


Duality

by NadoHunter



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of childhood abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Abuse, Past Abuse, Smoking, someone give Harv(ey) and Bruce a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:49:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21652543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadoHunter/pseuds/NadoHunter
Summary: Harvey Dent led a double life, arguably a triple life, but he really preferred twos. Both he and Harv did. They are also willing to do whatever it takes to make it so what happened to them that caused their traumatic personality split in the first place wouldn't happen again.But then, Bruce Wayne has to walk back into his life, and worse, his superhero persona may have a new unstoppable rogue on his hands known as The Batman.Written For/Based on the amazing designs for Hero!Harvey and Rogue!Batman that causeimanartist came up with ~<3
Relationships: Harvey Dent/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 46
Kudos: 92





	1. Duality Begins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [causeimanartist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/causeimanartist/gifts).



> Just a fair warning, sometimes this fic will dive a little bit into some of Harv(ey)'s downward spirals. This fic will also have some violence and mentions of blood and all that jazz, but I won't go into detail since I generally don't like writing it.   
> And last thing! I think via context it explains itself, but it case not: I differentiate between Harv and Harvey by making text where Harv is talking or thinking bolded.  
> Enjoy!

Maybe this was a bad idea. What could they really do after all? Gotham was falling apart and been a hot-bed for crime for ages. Crawling with people taking all their pain out on the rest of the city. Their.. _day_ job involved the law plenty… right? 

“ **_You know it's not enough Harvey ... and you agreed to let me punch people.”_ **

It was true; it wasn’t enough. You could only do so much in a system that was broken. A tangled web of corruption and deceit. He couldn’t stand it anymore, continuing to only do things by the book when that same book was used by men like Falcone to just barely avoid prosecution. He couldn’t stand knowing what was happening, but continue to do _nothing,_ when so many people needed so much more help. The poor became poorer, and the greedy got greedier and filthy stinking rich. He’d only ever known one rich boy that actually gave a shit and well… they hadn’t talked in years. So he had no idea if he was still like that or money and power had corrupted him too.

“ _Just don’t … cripple anyone, okay?”_

Harv had always been his… _angrier_ half. The half of him that felt cheated out of a normal life, a normal childhood. He couldn’t blame him, really. Harvey did too, he just chose not to think about it, and sometimes he didn’t even remember it. He knew Harv did though… he remembered everything _vividly_.

He wasn’t going to let what happened to him happen to another kid ever again, and if Harv’s anger could be channeled into something good? Something they could both agree on?

Well. Why not?

“ **_You handle the sweet talk, I’ll handle the dirty work.”_ **

**** That was the deal at least.

So here they were, having grapple hooked their way up to the top of a building to look down upon the street below.

Harv was sure they looked cool as hell with their red cape blowing in the wind. Harvey was just trying not to get vertigo.

“…So… how are we going to… get around?” Harvey asked, realizing Harv hadn’t bothered to really tell him why they were climbing up here in the first place. 

As neat as the lights looked from up here it didn’t seem _super_ practical. He took a moment to stare at Wayne Tower. He wondered if Bruce was still gone, still hadn’t stepped up as the CEO… or if he had been working quietly for a while now and he had just made a point of making sure it didn’t get to the press.

…Either way, he sure hadn’t bothered to tell them anything in _years_ , so maybe it didn’t matter.

“ **We’re going to jump. Duh.”**

“Jump…. oh right…” Harvey was pulled out of his train of thought only to come to a panicked screeching halt. “Wait! No… hang on I don’t want to..!”

And then they were suddenly catapulting themselves through the air, Harv laughing maniacally as they flew through the air, just narrowly landing on the next rooftop nearly scaring the living daylights out of Harvey.

“ **You’re going to have to get used to it, we didn’t do all those leg exercises for nothing you know.”**

Okay so maybe they had a rocky start.

A _very_ rocky start. 

Harvey had always been a mild-mannered type, so he wasn’t sure how he was going to handle punching people, punching people _hard_.

**_“I could really use you throwing harder right hooks Harvey if your going to butt in and try to fight too.”_ **

_“What if I hit too hard? And of course I want to butt in, I don’t want to forget any details! You’re awful at recounting things!”_

_“_ **_He was trying to hurt that woman back there.”_ **

_“I know… but…”_

_“_ **_Just imagine dad’s face and swing… just swing hard as you can.”_ **

Harvey’s fist collided with the criminal’s jaw with a pop, sending the brute stumbling backwards into the nearby trash bin with a bang.

“ **_HA! Now that’s some punch!”_ **

Harvey smiled to himself as he placed the knocked out assailant just inside the garbage can while still sticking him out enough for the cops to see easily and cuffed his arm to the bin, just to be safe. They took a brief moment to admire their work before skirting off down the alley and made their way back up a building.

Sure, this whole being a “hero-vigilante” thing was going to take them some time, especially since they had to take their time to work together on things anyway, but… well… maybe doing the right thing and getting out some deep seeded angst wasn’t such a bad thing. Though… he’d probably have to tell his therapist he was “going to the gym” or he had “started doing wrestling on the side” if he talked about his new outlet for Harv’s anger and his own angst.

———

They came home bruised and battered a lot in those early days. They had gotten the hand of punching and punching good, with an occasional great kick in there… it was the dodging part they had to work on.

Not to mention, when it came to extra defensive measures… well they weren’t exactly a tech genius. They didn’t really cover how to make smoke bombs, grappling hooks, or any sort of gadgets in law school. 

“ **_Waste of years of our life if you ask me._ **”

“We can’t just completely say ‘fuck the system’ Harv, Engineering would have made us both miserable and you know it.”

“ **_Hmm…”_ **

Harvey held up the little thick coin shaped pellet they had been working on in the basement in front of his eye.

“ **_Sure would come in handy right about now though… ”_ **

“So would, biology… maybe we should have stayed on the football team even… Maybe if we didn’t make them all coin shaped….”

“ ** _They HAVE to be coin shaped, we have a THEME._** **_Also we should not have stayed on the football team, as if our brain wasn’t dambledged enough.”_**

Harvey huffed at Harv’s attempt at humor. “Are you sure this isn’t turning into an unhealthy fixation? I mean… , making coins a part of our whole “thing”… is that… healthy? You know… mentally?”

Harv turned them towards a nearby mirror and glared. “ **_Look me in the eye and say that again Harvey. OH wait....”_ **

Harvey glared back at his own reflection. “Point taken.”

He sighed as their latest attempt at a vaguely coin shaped and decorated smoke bomb gave out a pathetic red puff of powder. Then Harv decided to throw it down at the ground with an angry growl of frustration…. only for them both to find themselves coughing and hacking in a cloud of red smoke as they stumbled around to turn on the fan and the one little window at the top of the far left side of the room.

—-

Sometimes… just before they went to bed… they’d pass their old landline phone. It was so old it recorded messages on a tape. Harvey would pause, pull a chair from the dining room table and stare at it.

No one had a landline anymore, he never used it for actual calls. He had his cell for that now of course. It wasn’t even the phone for his office either. But they still kept it.

For the… well… he had lost count how many times he had replayed those few messages still on it he had never erased.

He closed his eyes and listened to the voice of his best friend play from all those years ago.

“ _Hey Harv, congratulations on your acceptance letter! I still haven’t picked which college I’ve been accepted to that I’m going to… that sounds so snobby, I’m sorry. Listen… I know you were hoping we could end up at the same one… and… … …. I’d like to too… I just don’t want you to be too upset with me if that doesn’t happen, you know? I have to think about taking over the company and stuff and…. I don’t know yet… I still……………”_

That last pause kept him up at night, he knew Bruce well enough to know he wanted to say something else, had something else that had lodged in the back of his throat and he had swallowed as quickly as he wanted to say it.

“…. _I still want us to stay friends. Anyway, um, if you want Alfred’s made cookies today if you want to come over. Let me know! Bye!”_

The next message played with a beep that had never gotten any less jarring.

“ _Hey… um, so I think… I think I’m going to go to a school overseas, so I’ll be gone and it’s probably going to be hard for us to talk all the time. I’m… Im really… I’m really sorry Harvey. I know you were excited because you were moving out and thinking that maybe we could… you know… stay together... but… please believe me when I say I wouldn’t do this to you if I didn’t feel like it was really important._ .. .. _and it wouldn’t be fair to drag you along. I know you want us to stick together, and I do too. But I don’t want you to give up your life, everything you have just for me_ ….. _I’m sorry.”_

They had talked after Bruce left that message, Harvey had sped all the way to Wayne manor in the beat up used car he had worked his ass off for and ignored Bruce’s offers to just get a nice car for him because dammit he was going to be in charge of his own life for once… and had believed Bruce when he had sworn up and down he’d still try to keep in contact, they would stay best friends if nothing else, and he’d be back once school was over.

But those messages were all he had left of a friendship that had meant so much to him during the worst part of his life. Bruce was his only window out into the rest of the world. He had thought they were bonded at the hip, Bruce was there for him and he was there for Bruce. But he had tried to call so many times, he was sure he was probably the most clingy ex Bruce had ever had, but it was just in a desperate attempt to feel like they were still friends, that Bruce hadn’t forgotten about him, hadn’t _left_ them behind.

“ **_Maybe we didn’t mean as much to him as he meant to us… He didn’t even know about me…”_ **

“I was stupid… I was so desperate to think someone cared about me… I probably chased him away.”

It made them both furious. They hadn’t had the words to ask for help back then… when his father would fling him across the room or throw a bottle at his head… when his mother would just sit there with a cigarette in her hand, broken, doing nothing to help him because she had been beaten down so badly she’d rather her husband be taking out his drunken rage and play his “games” with her son rather than with her.

He knew the neighbors had seen him run out of his home crying with bruises on his face and arms right after hearing his dad shouting at the top of his lungs… but no one did anything… ever… they just let it happen. They let a child suffer just because it was too uncomfortable to face the truth.

He himself had never spoken up about it. When he did, or Harv had first popped up and tried to fight back… well.. his father was just such a good person to everyone else outside the home, they just thought he was lying or exaggerating… and often times his dad would end up being told “You know what your son is going around saying about you?” and that would always make things so much worse. 

So he shoved his anger down. If he at least tried to be _good_ , not _upset…_ not speak a word of what was happening… sometimes… maybe… dad would go easy on him, and his mother wouldn’t snap at him from being stretched too thin.

So he never told anyone.

Not even his best friend. When the Waynes had been alive, he had been too young and too afraid to know his situation wasn’t normal. He thought they were different… he thought the way Martha and Thomas had treated him like a second pseudo son was just because they had a lot of money and lived in a big house. In retrospect, he realized the two people who would have likely believed him and had the power to do something had been killed before he ever had the words to tell them.

He contemplated, sitting there, half of him filled with rage and half of him too depressed to get angry… to just delete those damn messages. Forget how he had been ignored and had something good ripped from him _again_.

It’d be the “healthy” thing to do, wouldn’t it? To forget?

But there was still that seed deep down, in both of them that still refused to believe that every moment Bruce had spent with them was a lie. Maybe it was naive or stupid of them, but all of that… couldn’t have meant nothing, could it?

So they mournfully knocked the chair to the side, pledging to pick it up later and face-planted in his bed, groaning at the idea of work in the morning… and told himself Bruce had just gotten busy. That he hadn’t meant to leave them behind, and maybe someday he’d remember the friend he left behind that still adored him no matter how much they didn’t want to anymore.

* * *

* * *

Be sure to [check out the artwork by causeimanartist](https://causeimanartist.tumblr.com/post/188962042622/missghostlymoonshadow-okay-i-realize-this-isnt) this all sprung from!

And here's also [my own drawings I've done](https://nadohunter.tumblr.com/post/189092449011/causeimanartist-s-designs-for-this-reverse-au) based off her AU too! :D!


	2. The Bat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly more bloody bits in this chapter! Just a fair warning if your affected by that in anyway!

Well, even with all the angst… and all the difficulties of trying to balance being an upstanding district attorney with several mob hits on his back and being a vigilante at night… they had gotten the hang of it after a year of being all over the place.

But hell, they didn’t call him Duality for nothing.

The name he had been given by the press had cracked them both up. Ironically, it was more fitting than any news outlet even really knew.

While Harvey had hated falling and leaping from building to building at first… he had started enjoying the adrenaline. Sometimes he’d free fall a little-bit and imagine he was one of those heroes that could fly.

Well, he definitely couldn’t. But who knows? Maybe someday. Weirder things have happened out there.

His least favorite person to fight was a psychotic killer clown that went around calling himself “The Joker”. Not just because he inspired way too many copycats with Gotham news sensationalizing him and giving the murderous maniac the attention he obviously wanted more than anything… but who actually really liked clowns? 

The first encounter with him really had felt like a nightmare, leaving victims dead with a horrific grin on their face. There was no damn way he was going to find anyone to come up with an antidote fast enough, and he once again regretted not at least taking chemistry or something as an elective… even if he didn’t have the resources anyway… he could have at least tried to help maybe… but still, he went in with a gas mask and had accidentally punched the clown so hard he had straight up knocked him out. Whoops. But at least the pasty man was down for the count and his own special blend of laughing gas could be handed over to a lab.

Except he seemed to be smart enough to change it just enough almost every other time he got out of Arkham’s shitty security system to still have everyone scrambling. So whoever The Joker was and wherever he had come from originally, he was unfortunately still smart enough to make his own horrific weapons to go along with his gimmick. 

Then there was Poison Ivy… who had managed to seduce him in his daily life as a lawyer and nearly killed him with toxic lipstick. Harvey still smacked his head over the whole ordeal, even if she did use her weird powder stuff on him, he still felt pretty stupid. Not to mention she was so obviously not into men on top of all that. Well she wasn’t generally happy with _people_ , but _especially_ not men. 

Apparently they had found an antidote just before he had died… but that also meant he was only barely able to cover the fact that they, and Duality, had been down for the count at the same time by managing to sneak out of the hospital just long enough to knock Ivy out rather sloppily and get back before anyone really noticed he was gone. He sometimes wished he had literally anyone to cover for them.

So maybe he started stealing the occasional gadget from his enemies and modifying it… both to fit his aesthetic and if need-be… not be quite so deadly.

He had stolen one of the riddler’s riddle boxes that sent out a pulse that had disrupted every electronic device in the surrounding area because: “trying to google an answer to my riddles is cheating!” . 

They had taken some of The Scarecrow's syringes because… well they might come in handy, and Harvey Dent didn’t exactly have the power to cover his tracks if he were to just be ordering some of this stuff online or buying it from a store. 

He had already gotten in enough of a tight spot when someone had recognized him trying to buy some things from one of those apocalypses prep places and had to brush it off with “Oh… a friend told me about these kinds of stores and I got curious. Not bad stuff for prepping for the bad weather in Gotham though, right?”. 

Despite all that,they felt they were getting the hang of this whole “vigilante” theme.

It was kind of fun too, talking to Jim Gordon about legal and police investigations one moment, pretending to just be mildly curious about the “outside sources” Jim was gaining intel from. Then not an hour meeting Jim on a rooftop, mask and all, allowing Harv’s lower register to be their predominant speaking voice while Harvey quietly advised Harv on how to speak both politely and vaguely enough to keep Jim’s trust in them and not have the police after him like they had in the past… and also not give too much away. It was something their law degree actually was incredibly useful for.

Though… of course it was always hard to come up with excuses for Jim on why Harvey Dent and Duality couldn’t meet to close that communication gap.

Their conversations were something he still found fun though, and Jim as the commissioner had sort of become the first friend he really had in awhile.

“So why did you decide to lean into the press giving you the name “Duality” anyway?” Gordon asked while puffing on a cigarette as Harvey crouched on the roof’s edge, all of them looking out over the city they had been roped into trying to fight for.

Harv smirked at the question. **“I had been going for a ‘phantom of the opera’ deal and couldn’t come up with a name, but ‘Duality’ actually suits me very well. ”**

“You got a life outside of this stuff?” Jim asked curiously with a huff of a laugh.

**“Not really. Everything I do is for the people in this city.”**

Which… wasn’t a lie.

“Sounds exhausting.” Jim joked.

**“It is, and it's why you’re drinking coffee at 2:22 AM Jim.”**

Jim raised his mug in mock toasting. “Perfect time of night.”

**“Yes. Yes it is.”**

Harv did really love his ‘twos” after all.

They had this all down, almost to a routine. Punch, kick, cuff, maybe a chase or two in there that Harv had to try very hard not to start humming some scooby-doo style chase scene music. There were hiccups, he didn’t really have the kind of resources he could _really_ benefit from that would really help him protect Gotham the way he wanted, but more or less, they had risen to being an overall successful vigilante. 

That was... until a silver sharpened boomerang shaped like a bat first flew past his ear and caught the hand of a man who had been shooting at him and pierced through it, pinning the now screaming man to the wall by his hand, blood gushing so fast it made Harvey a little ill.

Before he had time to react to what the hell just happened, a man seemed to fall from nowhere and land on top of the drug-lord they had just been trying to catch and bring in. This man was clad in all black, except for a strikingly pure white cape and mask with pointed… horns? Or maybe they were supposed to be ears considering the silver emblem of a bat that sat on his chest.

He unhooked a pair of handcuffs from his silver belt and cuffed the man groaning in pain beneath him, before giving an extra kick to the man’s head for good measure.

Harv stared forward, flabbergasted for a moment before coming to his senses, clenching his fists and marching towards this mysterious man-bat-dude to give him a piece of his mind.

 **“Number one, I had that under-control without your interference, and Number** **_two…_ ** _”_ He pulled out a long black rope from his own belt, and swiftly lassoed it around the silver boomerang… or.. batarang, whatever it was, with precision they had spent way too long trying to get the hang on - and yanked it out of the man’s hand to stop him from wailing and hurting himself further trying to get the weapon out of his hand.

“ **That was unnecessarily brutal.”**

The bat-man who seemed just a little bit shorter than him just smiled and stepped off the drug dealer’s knocked out limp body. 

“You want me to be _gentle_ with drug-dealers trying to hook minors with dangerous unregulated substances and killing each other over territory?” He asked, his own voice deep and threatening despite the calm _amused_ smile on his face.

Harv grumbled. **“It’s not about being** ** _gentle_** **it’s about not going over the top. There’s a** ** _legal_** **needed process on how we deal with these people, and if you can take them out without brutality you** ** _should, especially if you make a mistake in identifying who the ‘bad guy’ is... and also I HAD it TAKEN CARE OF.”_** Harv shouted, getting right up in this Batman’s face, only more annoyed that he didn’t seem intimidated in the least.

He’d be damned if he was going to have a potentially violent rogue vigilante stepping on his turf and making it harder for _him_ to do _his_ job.

“Number one” The Bat-man mocked making air quotes with his fingers. “I don’t _make_ mistakes.” “Number _two_ : I took out two people firing off weapons at you who wouldn’t hesitate to end your life, in _less_ than a minute.” The Bat-man pointed out, pushing Duality away from him with a half-interested hand lightly prodding at his chest. “Then they would go on to kill more innocents without giving a damn. And do it all for some _change_ and a fleeting feeling of power.”

He then took out a grappling gun that Harvey was suddenly very jealous of… but also noted looked extremely high-tech… and shot it up at the ceiling above him. He then tilted his head and looked at them with a smirk.

“So if you want to “take care of it”… be a little faster next time.”

Harv(ey) immediately growled and jumped towards him, ready to tackle him, but he was too _slow_ , and the man’s cape only barely brushed his nose as he soared up into the rafters and presumably into whatever vent he had dropped down from.

 **“Arrogant fuck-head.”** Harv grumbled as he kicked the ground.

“We should keep an eye on him” Harvey thought out-loud in a hushed voice.

He looked at the two bodies on the ground, battered and bloodied. He put his hands on his hips, grimacing. He knew Jim would know this mess wasn’t his doing… but he had an awful feeling in his gut others might assume it was.

He crossed over to the man still clutching his bloodied hand and bent down next to him, pulling a few bandages from one of his coat’s inner pockets, and began carefully wrapping it up.

“ _Dammit… maybe being a doctor would have been a better degree idea after-all… my Aunt Margery was right.”_ Harvey thought to himself as he stood up, leaving the injured man propped up against the wall ready for when the cops got there, turning over the bat-arang he had pulled out in his gloved hands.

 _“_ **_Your right, then we could have said ‘Dammit Jim! I’m a Doctor not a Lawyer’!”_ **

“ _Your a nerd Harv.”_

 _“_ **_I know you are, but what am I?”_ **

Harvey sighed and shook his head, he looked at his grappling hook that was decidedly not as cool or effective or even _safe_ as a grappling gun, but he made do with it regardless… though this time Harv decided not to bother, and they just went out the back door.

* * *

When he arrived home through his own top-floor window, he left conveniently unlatched when he went out, he shed his red and black mask and swapped his vigilante outfit he spent hours learning how to sew and work with difficult fabrics to make and make look good, and stowed it behind an artificial panel he had put up in his closet, trading it for blue pajamas he had for… well… ages. He put a rubber glove on after his leather ones were off and took hold of the still bloody silver Batarang for a second before speeding downstairs and down into the basement.

He placed the Batarang on his workbench and glared at it. He soon found, unfortunately as he suspected that it was clean of any finger-prints other than the prints of the man who had his hand impaled on it desperately trying to grab it. It was sharp as hell too, Harv knew just a slip of his hand and he could wind up losing a few fingers.

So he double bagged it in a zip-lock, labled it with a note that said “ _Be fucking careful with this shit”_ and stored it to bring to Jim later, see what he made of it.

He stared at it a few moments longer. Something like this… this sharp, this metal… and that grappling gun, those kinds of gadgets couldn’t come cheap. Even the batman’s outfit made him feel a little out-classed even with all the effort he had put in… and all the time they had both agonized over which boots to wear. Whoever this fucker was, he had access to money and resources. Either it was stolen, he was mooching off someone, or was high upper-class to one-percenter rich.

Harv let it go for now, storing the evidence safely for the time being and heading back upstairs to let Harvey do his evening business and check his schedule.

Harvey plopped down in his desk chair, crossing his legs as he perched on it and turned his computer back on. He silently crossed his fingers that he didn’t have too much to do the next day, maybe he could even fit in an extra 30 minutes of sleep for once… they liked sleep… they needed sleep after-all.

He groaned and bopped his head against his desk when he saw there was a charity gala to benefit the Gotham police force he had promised Jim he’d show up at. And of course it was something he wanted to support, and it would benefit his public image as a side bonus… but Harv wasn’t going to like the black tie outfit they were going to have to wear.

**“People don’t appreciate fun colors.”**

“Harv, if it was up to you you’d be wearing a pink tiger print suit.”

**“And I’d look fucking amazing in it. What’s wrong with pink… and tiger print for that matter?!”**

Harvey rolled his eyes and sighed, ditching their idea to chill out with a movie, and decided to heat up some milk so they would fall asleep faster.

**“It should be chocolate milk.”**

“That would be just hot chocolate, and that has sugar in it, it has to be just plain milk.”

**“Hot plain milk is gross”**

“It’s to help you sleep!”

**“Just chug some NyQuil then!”**

“I’m not a doctor but I’m pretty sure its not a good idea to ‘chug’ NyQuil every time you want to sleep.”

Their hand hovered between the chocolate and regular milk bottles as they argued.

**“Fine. Whiskey. I need a shot after the night we’ve had.”**

“You shouldn’t have alcohol to fall asleep!”

**“Whiskey or nothin’ goody-ten-shoes!”**

Harvey sighed and shut the fridge door and let Harv reach for the whiskey bottle and shot glass. 

“Fine. Whiskey it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, if your trying to fall asleep do NOT use alcahol to do it. There's many reasons why its a bad idea lol. Harvey is right on this one.  
> Harv doesn't always help them make good choices.


	3. Pretty Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More semi-detailed mention of Harv(ey)'s past childhood abuse and Joker showing abusive behavior towards Harley during a fight scene later in this chapter. With both I don't linger on it too long or get super detailed, but please please avoid reading if this subject matter could be triggering or upsetting to you.

Harvey stuck relatively close to Jim as soon as he found him at the gala. Having someone nearby he knew made having to put on a smile and schmooze to help his chances at re-election ahead of time a lot easier for him, and by extension Harv to put up with.

“By the way Harvey, I got someone I’d like you to meet.” Jim had suddenly interjected mid conversation. “Biggest donor to the force so far, he’s done a lot of work to make this gala even happen.” Jim praised excitedly.

“Well if that’s the case, I definitely want to meet him.”

Whoever this was, clearly had left a pretty good impression on the commissioner.

Harvey could only see the back of whoever they were approaching. Clearly a dark haired man in a very fancy, likely Italian, tailored suit. He was talking with a small crowd of men and women, all sipping champagne and laughing at an anecdote. 

“Hey, Mr. Wayne, I got someone I’d like to meet.”

Harvey’s head snapped to Jim… did he say?

Then the man turned around…

Oh… he had gotten older, taller, but still a little shorter than him, but he’d recognize those pale blue eyes anywhere.

They met gazes and Harvey could see Bruce looked about ready to drop his champagne glass as his eyes widened with something between shock and terror.

“This is Harvey Dent, our District Attorney, Harvey this is…”

“Bruce…. Wayne.” Harvey said slowly, somewhere between furious and disbelief at seeing this grown up version of someone he cared about that had left so long ago.

Bruce’s chest visibly raised as he took a deep uncomfortable breath. “Harvey…”

Jim looked between them, looking as if he just winded up in the middle of a couple’s argument. “Uh… so you’ve met already?”

Bruce blinked a few times to break their locked gaze and turned to Jim with the  _ fakest damn smile  _ Harvey had ever seen.

“Oh, yes Jim, me and Harvey g-” Bruce began

“We’ve met once or twice before.” Harvey interjected, eyes narrowing. Cutting off Bruce being able to say what he probably meant which was ‘me and Harvey go  _ way _ back’.

_ “ _ **_Don’t act like you fucking know me when you left and never looked back bitch.”_ **

Harvey heard Harv’s angry thoughts burning in the back of his head.

“ _ Try and stay calm Harv. We can’t afford to be angry right now… as much as I want to be.” _

He saw Bruce’s eyes scan his face, eyebrows furrowed in a way that almost looked  _ hurt _ . Half of him thought maybe he was a little too harsh too fast before even trying to talk to him… but at the same time, why the fuck should he have to be the reasonable one when apparently Bruce didn’t care much about  _ communication _ ? 

Jim clearly read the tension despite Harvey’s best efforts to keep a calm non-committal smile on his face. He gave Harvey a pat on the shoulder. 

“I’ll uh… let you two catch up, then...” He said before awkwardly shuffling away.

“ _ Good for you for escaping Jim. I wish I could.” _ Harvey thought.

Bruce held the neck of his champagne glass so tightly they were half wondering if he was going to snap it in half.

“So…. Harvey….” Bruce cleared his throat. “You’re… a Lawyer…”

Harvey wanted to roll his eyes. The first time Bruce had talked to him in  _ years _ , and that’s all he had to say? 

“How long have you been back in Gotham?” Harvey asked, taking a long sip of his own drink, looking away from those eyes that felt like they were taunting him, not bothering to acknowledge Bruce’s previous comment.

“A little over a year…” Bruce replied quietly.

Over a  _ year _ . Over a  **_year_ ** , and he hadn’t bothered to check in? To even say “Hi”? Or even better “I’m sorry I just ghosted you, despite us being best friends since  _ birth and the fact you were there for me through  _ **_everything_ ** ?”. There was no fucking way he hadn’t at least heard of his actions as District Attorney. That wasn’t him being vain, he really had to be living under a rock for a year not to know. Especially if he had met and talked with Jim for a while already. 

He could feel Harv’s anger beginning to boil even hotter, he tried, he begged for it not to affect him. 

"Oh. Well, good for you.” Harvey said in a very unconvincingly ‘chipper’ voice.

He could see Bruce looking more and more uncomfortable.

“ **_Good. Wallow in it you fucking asshole. How could you? Lying, manipulative, cu-”_ **

Harvey turned away so he could shut his eyes, Harv’s seething unbridled rage starting to get to him. If they didn’t get out of there… he knew Harv would snap, right in front of everyone and demand Bruce tell him why the fuck he couldn’t even call, or write, or even drop him one life of ‘I randomly decide I don’t want to talk to you ever again, so no sense wondering if I’m  **dead** or not’, all that time. 

The one good thing in his life. The one person he felt safe with. The one person he thought would never hurt him…

Well he hurt them both pretty damn well.

“Enjoy the rest of the gala Mr. Wayne. I know the Gotham Police Force appreciates your contribution.” Harvey stated blandly, turning his back on his former best friend.

Maybe deep down he hoped giving him the cold shoulder, acting like he barely knew him… maybe he hoped it would  _ hurt _ , then maybe he’d know how it felt.

That was cruel, he knew it was cruel… but when they had been hurt so much… especially by people who are  _ supposed  _ to care about you... well…sometimes it wasn’t easy to figure out what to do with those feelings.

Boy, his therapist was going to get an earful and a half.

So he walked off. Bruce stood there alone, already having his ears chatted off by the other gala attendees, and they both left him behind.

—-

He had tried to distract himself; he talked to a very interesting woman who was a forensic scientist on the force, met up with one of the detectives that had helped him on several cases in the past to make sure several mob members and some of Gotham’s most dangerous criminals were prosecuted properly. He wanted to forget that he had seen Bruce, ever. No, he wanted to go back to not knowing where he was and convinced he’d never see him again.

Knowing he was  _ there _ , that he had been there and wouldn’t have ever planned to say a  _ word _ to him if he hadn’t had to face him due to a massive coincidence.

Eventually he had to get some air, light a cigarette even though he had been trying to quit the nasty habit he had started in highschool, and desperately try to keep his nerves calm and not start kicking or punching something - or weeping and blubbering like an idiot.

So he stood outside, eyes closed, listening to the muffled sound of talking and laughter inside now overwhelmed by the wind, sounds of Gotham city… cars and sirens. A few nearby crickets sang their song and Harvey tried to zone out to them and the smell of his own cigarette smoke while he let Harv be mad… as long as he didn’t  _ say _ anything out loud.

“Smoking is an awful habit you know…” He heard Bruce’s voice quietly interject, breaking his focus as he heard the man step next to him.

Harvey let a long gust of smoke come out of his nose, seemingly taking a long pause to decide if he wanted to answer Bruce or not… but really he had to give Harv time to calm down enough not to interrupt him or start lashing out.

He finally opened his eyes, but still said nothing, more focussed on dropping and stamping out the cigarette that had been smoked down to nothing more than a stub, anyway.

Bruce shuffled his feet awkwardly and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Harvey… we… we should talk…”

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Harvey bit back, still looking anywhere but him.

Bruce stared down at the ground, lips pulled into a thin line. 

“Maybe it is.” He said lowly, toying with the gold cufflinks on his suit.

“You didn’t call.”

“…I didn’t.”

“Or write.”

“I know.”

“Did you even care? Or remember?” Harvey muttered under his breath.

“Of course I did.” Bruce answered immediately. And Harvey wanted to believe his words so bad it  _ hurt _ .

“You have a funny way of showing it.” Harvey pointed out.

“I just… got busy… I didn’t have time to catch up, even though I wanted to…” Bruce bit out slowly, clearly choosing his words carefully. “And when I  _ did _ have the time, I thought about you, thought about calling, apologizing, knowing you’d rightfully be angry with me… So I put it off.”

Bruce tensed at the slightly infuriated sigh that came out of Harvey’s nose, but continued anyway.

“Alfred even told me over and over I should just do it, that you’d be more upset and less likely to give me the time of day the more I put it off but… I did it, anyway.”

“ **_Moron_ ** ” Harv thought.

Harvey grimaced and lit another cigarette. “You’ve always been awful at using your words Bruce. You can’t be a reclusive doughnut-head if you want to run a company…” Harvey paused, ignoring Harv bugging him to just “ **_Call him an asshole to his face!”_ ** because Bruce remembered Harvey being the calm, generally cheerful friend… and he wasn’t ready to smash that image Bruce likely still had of him just yet.

“I mean… I guess you can… but people won’t be happy with you. There’s already too many Elon Musks and Lex Luthors in the world you know.” He lightly teased.

Bruce finally cracked a small smile. “You’re right.”

“Damn right I am.” Harvey replied. “You owe me big time you know, all that time… I thought you had died, or I had really done something to piss you off.”

Bruce shuffled his feet. “No… you didn’t do anything wrong. I was just being… self-centered.”

“Yes, yes you were.” Harvey confirmed with a slight huff. 

“Yes, yes I was.” Bruce echoed. 

They stood in silence for a long moment.

“So why  _ did _ you become a lawyer?” Bruce asked curiously. “I always thought you were more into cooking… or film or something. You had a pretty big creative bent… I always thought you were going to switch your general degree to something like that.”

Harvey paused for a moment, realizing Bruce had remembered something about him that he himself had forgotten and pushed to the side for his new goals. It cooled a bit of the red hot rage that had been simmering inside him the moment he had locked eyes with Bruce.

“Well… I was into cooking out of necessity, film… It was really more of a hobby.” He finally turned and smiled at Bruce, finally looking at him. “I chose law because I like to torture myself.”

Bruce huffed a half laugh. “ _ Harvey… _ ”

“Alright fine.” He laughed and held up his hands in surrender, putting out his half-finished cigarette. “I guess I wanted to do something to try to make a difference here in Gotham.” 

“Do you think Gotham deserves it?” Bruce questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Harvey tilted his head slightly. It was an odd thing for Bruce to say, at least with how he remembered him, but maybe he had gotten a little more cynical in the time he was gone, as most people tend to do when they get older.

“I think the  _ people _ in Gotham deserve it.” 

Bruce hummed and shifted his weight to his left leg. “That’s very heroic of you Harvey.”

“Nah… I’m just a district attorney. And you know what they say about lawyers.” He added with a wink.

Bruce chuckled and stepped a little closer to him. “What, you’re two faced? You have another side you haven’t told me about Harv?”

“ **_You have no idea pretty boy.”_ ** Harv thought, clearly having calmed down at least enough to engage with the present, and now finding amusement in the whole thing.

Harvey smirked. “Maybe.” 

Bruce snorted. “How mysterious of you, But hey!” Bruce nudged his arm. “District Attorney! That’s amazing Harvey! When are you up for re-election?”

“Next year.” He explained swelling with pride. 

“If you need any help backing your campaign, just let me know.” Bruce offered, bouncing on the heels of his perfectly polished shoes.

“Hey, Hang on you haven’t even heard my pitch or even know if you’ll agree with my policies or not.” Harvey pointed out with a grin.

Bruce gained a bashful sort of smile. “I  _ do _ know I believe in you, so I can’t see  _ wanting _ to back you… unless you’ve started taking bribes from mobsters or something.” Bruce suggested with a raised eyebrow.

“ **_Never_ ** , I have a giant target on my back because of it, but I’d rather get shot in the back then take a bribe and corrupt this city further.” Harvey declared firmly.

Something shifted in Bruce’s gaze he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “Has anyone tried to attack you so far?”

“Someone took a shot at me a couple of years ago, and Carmine Falcone tried to have, what we later found out was  _ acid _ dumped on my face.” Harvey explained, shrugging it off… as he tended to do with most horrific things that happened to him.

Bruce’s eyes widened. “That’s horrible Harvey!”

Harvey shrugged and leaned back against the nearby wall of the gala building. “Eh, I’ve felt worse. They don’t scare me.”

Bruce studied him for a moment before leaning back with him. “I’m… glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you're not dead.” Harvey teased before turning his head to Bruce. “You’re taking me out to lunch by the way.”

Bruce’s eyes shot to him. “I…am?”

“OH yes you are, you owe me big time, remember?” Harvey pointed out by playfully shoving Bruce’s shoulder.

“Yes, of course.” Bruce conceded looking off into the distance thoughtfully for a moment. “Surely I owe you more than a lunch though.”

“Oh definitely. The lunch is just the first down-payment.” Harvey enforced with crossed arms.

“I’m starting to see the Lawyer in you now.” Bruce noted with a snort.

“Yep, I’m a good one too.” Harvey bragged, only half joking. 

“Will you sue me if I don’t make the lunch a good one?” Bruce asked with a little chuckle.

Harvey turned, away with a laugh. “I’ll take you for everything your worth if it’s not at _least_ **very** good.”

“I  _ do _ like a challenge.” Bruce replied with a hum.

They shared a little laugh before it died back down into the quiet of the night once more.

He was still mad. He knew he was still mad because his stomach felt heavy and his eyes red hot. But it was… nice… talking to him again. He almost didn’t want to leave, but it was getting late, and really he should have left 10 minutes ago.

“Well… call me when you’ve got a good day to take that challenge on. Unless you plan on disapearing overseas for a few more years.” He said turning away, unable to help adding the slight jab.

“Wait, Harvey! I’m guessing you don’t still have the same number anymore? Cell-phones and all…”

He stopped in his tracks. “Oh… I guess I do…”

It felt odd exchanging contact info. It felt so natural to be talking to Bruce again except… so  _ unnatural _ at the same time. 

As if he needed more conflicting feelings in his life.

* * *

“ **_I’m still mad at him.”_ **

Harv thought several nights after they had first bumped into Bruce, despite Bruce making good on his promise, and them agreeing to meet him for lunch the next day.

_ “I know Harv. You… have a right to be. It’s okay to be mad about it.” _

They struggled a few times tying a knot correctly around the gunman they had just taken down, obviously distracted, but they played it off by tugging on his rope a few times to give the impression they were just making it extra tight.

Harv took a deep breath and stood, letting it go for the time being. Standing and listening closely to any little sound in the building around him… knowing the Joker and Harley one of them would…

Right on cue he heard the manically shrill laughter, finally giving him a direction to go. The Joker and Harley Quinn were heading towards the roof. So they took off, leaping through the door to the stairwell, grabbing onto the railing and hurling himself upwards to the next rail up, not bothering with the actual stairs for the sake of being quick and a little quieter. He kicked open the door to the roof and spotted the Joker heading for an escape helicopter while Harley yelped at seeing him, limping several feet behind the joker trying desperately to catch up.

**“Oh no you don’t clown-fucker!”** Harv shouted, unlatching a smoke bomb from his belt and hurling it into the low hovering helicopter with as much force as he could to counteract the wind pushing back the propellers were creating.

“ _ Please work, please work …” _ Harvey silently begged as the smoke bomb bounced and landed in the cockpit of the helicopter.

Almost instantly, red smoke filled the helicopter and came spilling out, buying him some time as it swerved in the air as the pilot coughed.

The Joker growled angrily and unveiled a handgun from his pocket, shooting wildly in their direction with a grin on his face, Harv darted to the side, trying to be as fast as he could to make up for being a pretty large target.

Harley jumped as one of the Joker’s bullets barely missed her face. “Hey! Watch your aim!” She screamed as she finally managed to catch up and hobble up next to the Joker, trying to hold back a wail from stepping on her bad leg awkwardly.

The way she was hobbling, wincing, and struggling to walk made Harvey think her leg bone might be fractured if not broken.

“If you don’t want to get hit, then  _ stay _ out of the way!” The Joker shouted, shoving her hard to the side.

Harv winced as she flew through the air and landed hard on the ground, for a moment he remembered the time his dad had thought it would be  _ fun _ to throw him into the closet… he remembered the feeling of being slammed against the ground and having the door shut on him… and he seethed with rage.

He rushed forward with an angry growl, adrenaline rushing so much he only yelled briefly as a bullet ripped through the outer fabric of his coat and slammed against the bullet-proof vest he had gotten Jim to let him “borrow”. That was going to leave a nasty bruise.

He kicked, hard as he could, and his metal tipped boot made contact with the Joker’s arm, knocking the gun out of his hand. He slammed the clown down to the ground, hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

He froze for a moment, hearing the worrying sound of another helicopter, only to sigh in relief when he saw it was a police helicopter. He’d let them take care of the other one that had just cleared the smoke out of it.

He harshly flipped the laughing clown over, taking a bit of enjoyment out of him wincing in pain as he pressed his foot to the middle of his back as he tugged his hands around to cuff him and took another moment to tie his legs together.

“D-Don’t hurt him!” He heard Harley groan as she struggled to pull herself up

He turned and let out an  **“Oh fuck** ” As he saw her face, when she had been thrown so hard to the side, it looked like she hadn’t been able to catch her fall, and almost definitely had a broken nose… her mouth was bleeding too, hopefully she didn’t loose a tooth.

He glared down at the Joker, now incapacitated despite his insistent giggling and got up to head to Harley, who flinched when he crouched down next to her.

“Lean forward and breathe through your mouth.” Harvey said to her calmly and quietly. 

Harv let him talk, he was better with being considerate and caring anyway.

She looked at him blearily and quizzically. He reached out a hand and calmly touched her shoulder, gently pushing her to lean forward.

“I’m not trying to hurt you, your nose is broken. You need to make sure the blood doesn’t drain down your throat.”

She looked near tears and in shock, he couldn’t blame her, not at all. 

He sat with her while the police apprehended the pilot and henchmen in Joker’s failed get-away helicopter, he helped her stand while keeping her leaning forward as soon as he saw Commissioner Godon come up onto the roof.

**“Jim! She needs medical help, broken nose.”** He called.

“It’s.,, My fault, in the way …” Harley slurred dizzily.

“ **It’s not your fault he decided to throw you to the side like a rag-doll.”** Harv growled, trying to keep her calm, hoping his low guttural tone didn’t sound threatening.

“Jesus christ…” Gordon grumbled before turning to get a medical team ready for when they were taking them in.

Harvey almost didn’t want to hand Harley off, even if he wasn’t a medical professional, not when that clown could still get to her and manipulate her.

Harleen Quinzel was an incredibly intelligent woman, he only could really hope she could eventually get the help she needed and get herself away from that demented clown.

He felt relieved when he saw her being handed over to medical professionals and continued his patrol… hoping they could wrap up soon.

That was, until, he saw two of the Penguin’s goons walk into an old warehouse with guns drawn.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

When he investigated further, he witnessed an angry mobster standoff. It was between one of Carmine Falcone’s men and the two men that worked for penguin who had just walked in. Who knows how one pissed off the other, but he was going to be damned if they let this stand-off play out and get even uglier and rope in innocents in the long run. A war between Carmine Falcone and The Penguin playing out in Gotham would be a literal nightmare.

He burst through the window, rolling as he hit the ground, right on the upward swing of his roll he grabbed the heads of the men working for Penguin and knocked them together just hard enough to stun them for a moment so he had a window of time to yank their guns out of their hands and throw them to opposite sides of the room.

One of them turned and took a sloppy swing at his head, he ducked under and used the man’s momentum from the punch to grab his other arm and send him slamming into the other man.

Falcone’s goon took the opportunity to start firing at the men he had been having a stand-off with who were now scrambling over themselves to get away. Harv barreled towards him, keeping his head down and working fast to stay out of the firing path when the man turned his aim to him.

He grabbed the other man’s arm; he was a lot smaller, so it was incredibly easy to pin him down and disarm him. He grumbled and dragged him over to a nearby metal support beam, ignoring the myriad of curses and “you’ll regret this” and cuffed him to the beam. 

He then turned his attention back to Penguin’s men trying to make an escape. He took a few coins off his belt… well.. good of a time as any to check if his aim had gotten any better and if his late nights trying to make these damn things in the first place had paid off.

He pressed in the heads of the thicker-than normal head side of the coin and five blades released themselves from their unfurled position; he aimed as quickly as he could while running after them, threw… and watched rather proudly as they hurtled through the air.

One of them landed right where he meant it to, in the back of one of the men’s lower leg. It would hurt like a mother-fucker, leave a scar, and stop him running, but it was still treatable and not serious. He winced a little though as the other one landed a little high on the other man’s upper thigh. It still did the job… but… well, apparently he wasn’t  _ as _ ambidextrous as he thought and his right arm was going to need a little work. Harv felt a  _ little _ bad about it… but not too much.

He dragged the two wincing men over to another support beam and tied them up. Taking a deep breath when he left, deciding his work was finally done for the evening.

“ **_How’s that for a workout Harvey?”_ **

“ _ Amazing, I feel the burn, but I could really use some sleep Harv… Work and Lunch with Bruce tomorrow.” _

Harv rolled his eyes.  **_“It better be a damn good lunch.”_ **

_ “Yeah… yeah, I hope so too.” _


	4. Cat

They spent way too much time agonizing over their appearance that morning, as if something like that alone - would chase Bruce off again. Currently, they had swapped between a blue button-down shirt and a pink one four times now.

“ ** _It’d be nice if we could just… split them down the middle and sew them together.”_**

_“That would be nice… then we could get an equal say, but I think it would look a little weird… or people might connect us to Duality a lot easier.”_

_“ **Fuck people.”**_

_“Harv…”_

_“ **Fine…”**_

Harvey sighed as he stared between the two shirts, with a grimace he slowly reached down into his pant’s pocket, pulling out their coin. 

“Okay, my side comes up, we wear the blue today and pink tomorrow, and if your heads comes up, visa-versa, okay?”

“ **Okay.”**

They flipped the coin, heart jumping slightly as they heard the familiar clink of their thumb hitting the metal and sending it flying up through the air.

“Pink today then…” Harvey conceded, running his thumb over the coin before re-pocketing it. “You sure it's _good_ for us to be using _that_ coin Harv?”

“ **It helps us agree and get along doesn’t it?”**

“Well sure, but… couldn’t it… just be a generic coin?”

“ **I see it as turning a negative into a positive. We have the power over choosing to flip it. It’s not being held over our head anymore.”**

Harvey sighed. Even if he was arguing against it, deep down the very idea of not keeping it with him felt even worse. “You’re probably right.”

“ **Damn right I am.”**

Dressed and ready for the day, they went to work, every second that they got closer to their lunch break put them more and more on edge. What if they said something wrong? Harv was starting to get this terrible feeling that if he slipped, because he wanted to talk to Bruce just as much as Harvey did but _couldn’t…_ Bruce would see something he didn’t like, he would _know_ , he would _know_ they weren’t okay, that they hadn’t been okay for a long time… that there was something else going on behind every smile they had ever given him… and that was the worst possible thing that could happen.

Aside from the idea that Bruce was just humoring them, and didn’t want to be there at all in the first place. 

They had to take a moment to calm down before they left for Lunch, lighting up a cigarette the moment they stepped outside. Harvey cursed slightly under his breath. He really needed to get a better way to calm down.

“ _We need to quit._ ”

“ ** _Yeah, I know.”_**

Harvey opened up his phone, double checking the address Bruce had sent and which way he needed to walk. He put out his cigarette and bounced on his heels a few times to try to shake off his nerves before heading that direction.

Walking helped, he tried to breathe deep with every step and get off the shaky feeling in his nerves. He tried to people watch to take his mind off things. It perplexed him how more people in Gotham didn’t have an intense fear of going outside, or at least develop one at some point. But then again, maybe being just as likely to be in an exploding building played a part. 

He felt even more relieved when he confirmed the place Bruce picked wasn’t so fancy he’d feel uncomfortable as he requested. He was worried, even after saying that, that Bruce would have a warped sense of what “not fancy” was. 

So he stood just outside, texting Bruce he was there. He soon received a message back.

“ _I had Alfred park me just around the block where it was quieter so I wouldn’t make a scene, I’ll be there soon._ ”

Harv half wanted to tease him for not driving his own car, but he stayed quiet as promised even if Harvey also thought it was a little funny.

He turned and smiled when he saw Bruce pick up his pace a little as he rounded the corner and spotted him too. He noted Bruce was a little smarter than he was and had worn a black cotton winter coat to account for the chill in the air that day. He wasn’t about to admit though that he and Harv spent so long agonizing over the shirt they had forgotten about wearing a coat entirely.

“Sorry I’m a little late.” Bruce said first thing as he stepped up next to Harvey.

They checked their watch. “Only by 5 minutes.”

Bruce furrowed his brows. “Still, I like being on time…”

Harvey chuckled. “And I thought I was a perfectionist.” He teased as he pulled open the restaurant door for Bruce who nodded in gratitude and walked in.

“I hope you don’t mind, I reserved us the private room so we could talk properly.” Bruce said with a wink as Harvey stepped in after him.

“Oh, no, I don’t mind at all.” Harvey replied sticking his hand in his pocket as his eyes flicked around the room.

Italian. He liked Italian. Not a bad choice.

It was when they were lead to the table and they sat down that Harvey really felt the growing dizziness and nausea from the concept of talking to Bruce that had been threatening to gut punch him all morning. The first thing he did when sitting down was take a long sip of the provided ice water to try to calm his nerves. As if he hadn’t been making a million attempts at calming down through both good and bad habits all morning.

“Fog rolled in a little early from the harbor today.” Bruce noted.

Oh great, they were talking about the weather.

“Oh yeah, It’s gloomier earlier than usual isn’t it?” Harvey agreed.

“ ** _I swear to fucking Jesus, the budda, and whoever else is listening if you don’t transition out of talking about fucking climate in Gotham...”_**

**“** Sometimes makes me wish I had set up shop in metropolis. But then I guess you still have to worry about a building falling down because someone decided to toss Superman like a rag doll through it, huh?” Harvey continued trying to get them away from the topic of weather so Harv didn’t start grumbling even more.

“Hmm… True, what’s worse? Alien invasions or clown themed criminals…” Bruce observed, taking his own long sip of his drink. “That was definitely something I wasn’t prepared for when I got back here… seems like the criminals have gotten more… What would be the word for it? Interesting? Kooky in a messed up way?”

“Tell me about it, frankly, if you ask me The Joker should be in a regular high-security prison, not Arkham.” Harvey replied. Feeling oddly more at home on this topic than the weather. He wasn’t sure what that said about him.

“Really? Why do you say that? He’s insane isn’t he?” Bruce asked, leaning forward curiously.

“I’ve personally been under the belief - and have been trying to gather evidence to prove - he’s not _legally_ insane. Which means he’s fully responsible for his actions without a reasonable doubt.” He explained.

“Interesting… so what qualifies as _legally_ insane then?”

“The short and most basic idea is that if the defendant has a certain mental state that makes them unaware that their actions are wrong - that they shouldn’t be held legally responsible for their behavior.” Harvey leaned back in his seat. “You can also be psychotic and not be dubbed “legally” insane. It’s shaky ground and the opinions and rulings on it can differ wildly.”

“Sounds complicated.” Bruce commented leaning on his hand.

“And that’s why my job gives me headaches.” Harvey agreed with a mock toast.

“You’ve always been pretty smart though, It makes sense you’d end up being a good Lawyer.” Bruce said with a tilt of his head. “I could never do a job like that!”

Harvey rolled his eyes. “Sure, says the guy that was accepted into three Ivy League schools.”

He wasn’t quite sure why Bruce was acting a bit like he was empty-headed when Harvey had always known him to go beyond just a top student right into ‘know-it-all’ territory.

Bruce blinked a few times and laughed it off, with a laugh that didn’t sound super genuine, but it wasn’t like Harvey didn’t understand awkward conversations. “You’ve got me there!”

They both went silent for a moment, the air growing stagnant until the waiter entered the room and they both focused on ordering their lunch.

It was then when they were alone again, when Harvey’s gaze had drifted to looking around the small warmly lit private room that they were in that Bruce finally broke the silence.

“Harvey…”

“Hmm?”

“When we were talking that night, you said you were into cooking out of necessity, what did you mean by that?” Bruce asked, a slightly concerned look on his face.

“ ** _Aw crap.”_**

Harvey tugged on his collar slight. “Oh… that… well… uh, funny story, you know. My parents uh, you know, they were just… _a certain way_ , so I had to get and make my own meals a lot of the time, that’s all.”

Bruce stared at him, eyes slightly wider and looking a little shell-shocked. “Harvey, that’s not a funny story at all.” He then leaned forward a bit, and Harvey leaned back, starting to feel slightly interrogated. “You also said you ‘felt worse’ after talking about attempts on your life… Did… something happen while I was gone?”

Harvey felt a seed of guilt enter in the pit of stomach. He could see why Bruce would have to think that something terrible had come up while he was gone, he could even see what looked like an uncomfortable feeling of regret ebbing in Bruce’s voice. Though he had never thought Bruce to be quite _that_ observant. How were they supposed to look their best friend in the eyes and tell him that many many things had happened back when they _really_ were close… how were they supposed to say anything now that it seemed so… akward. 

“ ** _Don’t say a god-damned thing… we don’t even know if he can be trusted._** _”_

_“But maybe… he should know, I don’t want to keep lying, he’s still our friend isn’t he?”_

Harvey froze as he realized he was gripping their coin hard in his pocket and didn’t even remember doing it. Which meant Harv was dangerously close to fronting and booting Harvey out all together under a warped sense of keeping them safe.

“Ha… Ha ha….” Harvey tried to laugh off. “Oh that, well, I didn’t mean anything serious about that, but I see how you could think that.” He replied, looking everywhere but Bruce’s eyes.

For a lawyer he felt like he was doing extremely poorly at choosing his words at that moment. Bruce leaned back again in his seat, looking almost… disappointed…

Did he somehow know? Or at least know that he was lying??

“Okay…”

They sat in silence. It was awkward again, but Harvey was incredibly relieved when he realized his hand was out of his pocket and instead his hands were neatly folded together on his lap.

“So what degree did you get anyway?” Harvey asked, trying to re-break the ice, realizing he didn’t actually know. 

Bruce smiled sheepishly. “Engineering and Computer Science…”

Harvey nearly wanted to have been drinking something at that moment so he could spit it out. “E _ngineering_ and _computer science??_ ”

Harvey rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “No wonder you dropped off the face of the planet.”

It was starting to make a little more sense all of the sudden. 

Bruce shuffled his feet. “That and some… extracurriculars…” 

“Dear god Bruce, you know you could have just gone to school for business right? Just because your own “Wayne Tech” doesn’t mean you have to… do all the tech yourself right??”

“Listen, I thought if I was going to college I’d get as much out of it as physically possible.” Bruce brushed off as if a decision like that wasn’t putting yourself through brutal torture.

“I… if you say so, dear god.”

Suddenly, he wasn’t quite as upset at him anymore… now more concerned with why the hell anyone would put themselves through that.

Then again… maybe the pressure of fully taking over a tech company from his murdered parents would be enough motivation to put yourself through whatever it took. 

Bruce looked towards the ground for a moment. “I know… because of the decision there’s a lot of lost time to be made up.” he looked up at Harvey, getting a look of determination. “ _We_ have a lot of time to make up… if you still even want to.”

Their chest ached, and they almost wanted to lose all inhibitions and leap across the table just to give Bruce a hug. But they wouldn’t, not yet at least.

“I’m honestly surprised _you_ even want to. I would have thought even if you hadn’t meant to you wouldn’t even really want to try anymore… “ He wanted to tack on ‘knowing how you are’, but he thought that might come across too mean.

“You…” Bruce tilted his head down, shoulders looking tense as he spoke. “You were always there for me. It was wrong of me to throw it away because I got so focused on my own goals, so if there’s even a small chance for us to be friends again, I want to pursue it.”

Harvey’s breath caught in his throat. “Oh… uh… well, really, I’m kind of just glad the crazy things I was telling myself happened to you turned out not to be true. I’m over being mad, anyway.”

“ ** _Liar._** ”

Bruce smiled. “You’ve always been so forgiving Harvey, I just hope I deserve it.”

Even if Harvey had told one or two massive lies, he was glad that the air felt a little more clear between them as lunch was served.

“You keep in contact from anyone else from high-school?” Bruce asked curiously in-between bites.

“Not really… well, I talked to Oliver once because we happened to run into each other, but that was about it.”

“Oh, I haven’t seen him in ages either.” Bruce said thoughtfully before getting a funny look on his face. “Do you… have anyone in your life?”

Harvey came to a screeching halt, looking up at him in alarm. Was he implying he didn’t have any friends?

I mean he was right for the most part but, _hey._

“Yeah I … I have people I hang out with…” He muttered turning a little red.

This time it was Bruce’s turn to turn a little red. “Oh! No, No, I meant… like… romantically.”

“ _Oh_.” Harvey said letting go of the breath he was holding before laughing. “Haha, no, no time for that kind of thing right now, really. What about you?”

“Hmm… a fling here and there but nothing serious. Is there anyone you're… interested in?” Bruce asked, pushing his half eaten plate to the side and leaning forward.

Harvey raised an eyebrow at him, curious as to why the hell Bruce was suddenly so interested in his romantic life. It occurred to him, that when they had left off they had been in the midst of an on-again off-again relationship. Coming together momentarily, only to pull apart when not being able to be outwardly affectionate got to them… more Harvey most of the time that Bruce, and they pulled back away again.

It didn’t help that deep down, Harvey knew he had never been fully honest with Bruce.

Only about half honest.

“Hmm, No, not really. I guess I haven’t thought that way in a long time.” He answered with a small shrug. “Got too into my work, you know?”

“Well, I can understand that…” Bruce’s gaze shifted to the side before coming back as he paid the bill and gave Harvey’s shoulder a friendly nudge. “Well hey, if you ever need a wingman…”

Harvey laughed. “Yeah right, If I have you with me as a wing-man you’ll just steal all the available bachelors and bachelorettes without even trying.”

Bruce laughed along, but once again it was with a laugh that Harvey himself was starting to wonder if Bruce knew how fake it sounded.

Once they were outside, finished up, and Harvey ready to get back to work - he took a moment to stretch his back out that already wasn’t looking forward to a long time he was going to be sat at a desk for today.

“Well, good choice on the restaurant Bruce, good to know you haven’t completely lost touch with reality.” He teased.

“Only mostly lost touch.” Bruce added with a wink.

“Well hey, lets do it again sometime, or maybe I can make you something at home. I’m no Alfred Pennyworth, but I could give it a…”

“I’d like that Harv.” Bruce interjected, hands in his pockets. 

For a moment he could have believed that deep down Bruce was just as lonely as he had been for the past several years.

Harvey let out a deep breath. “Yeah, Okay. I’ll text you in a bit once I’m at my desk and can see who is yelling at me… I mean… see what work has to be done for the week.” He joked.

Bruce snickered, and they finally said their goodbyes. 

“ ** _Maybe you can get him to stop calling you “Harv” next time…”_**

Harvey grimaced because of course the first opinion Harv had to interject on the way back to work had to be negative.

_“He’s always called us that, what’s the big..?”_

_“ **No, he’s called you that. He’s not talking to me, ever, he’s talking to you. He’s always talking to you, and using MY name.”**_

_“For god’s sake Harv, it’s not my fault your name is also short for my name. I didn’t come up with that. Can you just be glad he’s still friendly with us at all?”_

_“ **Yeah, right. He probably just wants to get in good with the D.A. Why would he still give a shit after all this time?”**_

Harvey pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

“ _Hey, Yeah, Could you not make me depressed and doubt my own senses right now?”_

_“ **I wouldn’t have to be paranoid if you weren’t willing to open yourself up to everyone at the earliest opportunity. Come on Harvey, has he laughed once and it not sounded fake?”**_

Harvey sunk down into his desk chair, at least his office was semi comfortable even if he had a case to work on that had been giving him a headache putting together all month.

“ _Sure, but you know how Bruce is…”_

**_“Do we really? Why do you keep making excuses for him?_** ”

Harvey folded his hands together and glared forward. “ _Innocent until proven guilty.”_

**_“Yeah, but blindly just thinking he’s gonna be your bestie just because you're desperate for SOMEONE to give a shit about you isn’t gonna help nothin’ .”_ **

_“_ I’m not desperate!” Harvey ended up barking out loud, only to pull his lips into a thin line and hoped no one outside his office room heard him shout.

“ _Why are you so keen on making me miserable!?”_

_“ **I’m trying to protect you!! Fucking weak-asshole…”**_

_“If you want to protect me, let me just be happy I had a nice lunch, with an old friend, and shut up!!!”_

Harvey was almost more unnerved by the sudden silence in his thoughts. Despite that, he tried to get on with his day and ignore the seeds of doubt that had been planted in his stomach that were starting to make him sick.

—-

“…You're _not upset still, are you?”_ Harvey asked as he slipped the bi-colored red and black mask onto his face. “ _Look, I’m sorry I told you to shut up I…”_

_“ **Jesus Christ Harvey, I’m the one that called you a week asshole. I thought YOU were the one not happy with ME.”**_

Harvey sighed, pausing because he realized he put his coat on inside out and needed to turn it the right way around. No wonder those buttons weren’t working how they were supposed to.

“ _I mean… I’m not happy… but I don’t want you to be mad at me.”_

**_“Well maybe you need to stop thinking someone being mad at you means you got to immediately take all the blame.”_ **

_“…Are you trying to say you’re sorry?”_

Harvey was almost starting to feel a little touched.

_“… **I didn’t mean to make you feel bad I was just…”**_

_“Trying to protect me… I know… I know you don’t want us to get hurt.”_

“ **Hey… good for you for sticking up for yourself though. I know I’m kind of a scary guy to stand up to.”**

“ _Thank you Harv… now what do you say we go ‘punch some bad guys’ to avoid facing our issues again, huh?”_ Harvey teased, slipping open his window to sneak off into the night.

“ ** _I never thought you’d ask.”_**

—-

They were currently dangling Cat-Woman upside down by her own whip from the ceiling of where he caught her. She did not look happy. 

“ **Why were you trying to steal from Falcone, Selina?”**

“Why are _you_ defending him?” She hissed back.

“ **I don’t** _want_ to defend him, I tried to ask you a question ,and _you_ tried to scratch my eye out.”

She turned away from him. “I don’t sell out the ones paying my bills, _sorry_.”

Harv rolled his eyes despite the fact he knew his eyes couldn’t be seen under their mask.

“ **So you’re being paid to steal something from him?”**

“Steal… take out a few of his goons along the way…”

Harv raised an eyebrow. First penguin had men going after a certain man working for Carmine, now conveniently, Catwoman apparently had a job from _someone_ sending her after Falcone and some of his men.

“ **Are you after any one of his men in particular?”**

She narrowed her eyes at him and said nothing. He sighed. He really hated when people made questioning difficult.

“ **Is there anyway I’m going to get you to talk or am I just going to have to drag you down to the police station and let them deal with you and figure it out myself?”** He probed, knowing he looked thoroughly bored.

“Maybe… I could tell you…” She looked up at him with a smirk. “If you make it worth my while…”

They stared at each other for a moment, until Selina decided to overly exaggerate by wiggling her eye-brows, and they both started snickering.

“ **Nice try sister. How about this, you tell me, I’ll leave you tied up outside, if you don’t, I’ll leave you hanging over the front door inside the nearest police station?”**

She rolled her eyes.“Listen, I don’t _know_ this guy is yet, I don’t know if he’s the type to slit the throats of those who go against him. And what’s the big deal? Falcone doesn’t need half the stuff he has, and the men who follow him gave up their lives the moment they decided it’d be a good idea to work with him.” She paused and grunted, starting to look a bit dizzy. “And if you’re _going_ to interrogate me, could you at least hang me the other way around or something?? It’s really hard to think with the blood rushing to my head.” 

“ **I don’t really disagree with you about the morality around the idea of stealing from Carmine.”** Harv grunted and took out a previously sheathed hunting knife from his coat pocket and cut the whip rather than bother to untangle it, sending Selina falling to the floor.

“That _hurt!_ And I’ll have you know that is a very good whip you just ruined.”

“ **Is your neck broken?”**

“No…”

“ **Then you’re fine.** ” 

He picked her up from the ground and held her up in front of him by where several parts of the whip overlapped around her.

“ **If you’re too nervous to give me your employer’s name, could you at least give me a hint?”** He asked almost teasingly.

“Do I _look_ like the riddler to you?”

“ **Come on Selina, I thought you weren’t** _a dog_ running errands for a guy that doesn’t want to get his hands dirty.”

Her gaze narrowed, if she didn’t want to claw his eyes out before, she did now. “Refer to me like that again _Dent_ , and us being ‘friends’ won’t be enough to save me from letting the cat out of the bag.”

“ **Friends don’t keep secrets from each other”** He pointed out somewhat cockilly, now a huge smirk on his face.

“Why do you want to know _so_ bad anyway if you supposedly aren’t defending Falcone? I thought _you_ would have wanted to get even with him after all the hits he and his men have put on your _other half_.” She hissed.

“ **I want to** _know_ because The Penguin apparently had a sudden interest in sending his people after Falcone’s men less than a week ago, and I just want to know _why_ and what the common denominator is, okay? Then you can steal from him or whatever but _no_ killing anyone Selina, then we definitely won’t be friends.”

**“** Oh, well, why didn’t you just say so?” she asked teasingly, suddenly releasing her arms from their previously tied up state, he glared at her as she leaned forward cheekily, making it known she could have freed herself just fine this whole time.

She then stood up after being done taking his glare and brushed herself off. “Look, I don’t know what this guy’s reasoning is. He’s just got it out for Falcone. Super serious too… and kind of cute.”

Harv looked at her exasperated. “ **I don’t really care if he’s cute or not Selina, that doesn’t help me.”**

She shrugged. “I don’t know, a lot of the other criminals in this town aren’t quite as… well put together?” She suggested.

Harv paused, mind ticking away. “Does he… look like his outfit and gadgets probably cost a lot of money?” He suggested.

Of course, if Selina was so quick to do someone’s bidding they would have to have something _she_ wanted, she wouldn’t just do a favor or a job for _anyone_.

She winked at him. “I don’t think I need to say anything else. And I _won’t_.”

“ **Fine.”** He grunted, kicking at some broken glass on the floor from their brief scuffle as Selina made her way about the room.

She stopped at Carmine’s abandoned desk and kneeled down to start picking at the lock of one of his desk drawers. Harv stood very still for a moment, watching her work before quietly and sheepishly kneeling down next to her.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“How do you… um… do that?” Harvey asked politely.

“You don’t know…” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t know. Alright, crash course.”

He watched her diligently, and curiously, hanging on every word.

“ **That’s a lot easier than I thought… I usually just force things open if I can.** ”

Selina patted his head playfully. “Next lesson we’ll tackle safes, m’kay tough guy?”

He smiled at her, only to spring up when they both heard loud footsteps coming towards the door, it sounded like Carmine himself. In a panic Harv darted to a large sitting chair in the corner of the office, lifted it up over his head and set it down in front of the door, lodging it under the handle.

Selina scrambled, grabbing whatever was in the drawer, and swooped up the bag of valuable things she had collected before Duality had “rudely” interrupted her. She scooted back out the window, Duality not falling too close behind, though barely avoiding not ripping or cutting anything on the broken glass on the way out.

They both peeped over the roof of the building as they heard angry growling from the room they had just exited and the door being broken open. They shared a glance at each other before quietly slinking away.

“ **Anything good?”** Harv asked out of curiosity when they were several buildings away and Selina was flipping through the papers she’d pulled out of Carmine’s drawer.

“Hmm… Well there was this golden gun I found…” She gestured with her foot where she left it on the ground. “Pretty tacky if you ask me.” She smirked. “So… right up your alley Harv.”

**“Well, I don’t really use guns so… what do you mean tacky?!”**

She laughed, taking great joy in Harv looking insulted.

“Hmm… there’s nothing really else here that was in the drawer at least, I managed to grab one of his watches and some money from his little safe. If _someone_ hadn’t interrupted me, I probably would have found something _really_ good.” She bit at him.

Harv put his hands up “ **When I** _see_ a cat-burglar looking to do some burgler-ing, I act on instinct. And I told you, I _needed_ to know why there were suddenly people who didn’t really care getting involved with Falcone.”

Selina walked over to him and patted his cheek. “You’ll put him behind bars someday Harvey. I believe in you… you too Harv, when you don’t piss me off.”

“ **Gee thanks.** ”

She huffed in amusement. “Well, since you're not letting him speak right now… tell Harvey I said hi.” She whispered before slowly moving away, getting a running start and leaping onto the next building ledge.

“ _Should we stop her?”_ Harvey thought.

_“ **Maybe when she commits an actual crime. Besides, she helped us out didn’t she?”**_

_“Well sure… but… wait she did sort of commit a crime, theft.. breaking an entering…”_

**_“You really want to put her away for…”_ **

They heard Carmine’s disgruntled barking distantly, now unhindered by the broken window and smiled.

“… **for that?** _”_

_“… You’re right. What crime, what even is a crime?”_ Harvey gave in.

They went into a jog, then a run, going their own opposite direction.

“ _Isn’t it a little ironic though you trust her more than Bruce?”_

**_“SHE’s at least been consistent, and consistently THERE.”_ **

**_“_ ** _Okay, ouch, salt in the wound. But point taken.”_

_“ **Besides, if she wanted to betray us, she would have done it already and sold out our identity to the highest bidder.** ”_

Harvey supposed he was right, that Selina at least liked him enough to not have exposed him the moment she had found out during their very, very, very brief ‘romantic’ relationship. To be perfectly honest, even knowing they had tried dating, they really did make better friends.

—————

They were getting tired.

Really tired. But it was one of those nights. 

Again.

Another mugging, another assault, another robbery to stop.

Realistically, Duality had always known they couldn’t possibly do it all, and they would just have to make the decision to _stop_. 

But tonight, they kept going on snap decisions, on coin flips that seemingly were determined to keep them up even longer.

When it was finally quiet _enough_ , and Harv was sluggishly throwing in the towel, when they were finally making their way home - they were at a point where they just wanted to get home as _fast_ as possible.

It was a mistake.

A really

really 

really

big

mistake.

They lept, off where they had been hanging off a ledge, as they did so many nights before.

But this time…

they didn’t realize they hadn’t pushed off with enough strength… until it was too late. Until their outstretched hand missed the next ledge by a few inches.

And they were falling.

Everything seemed to stop. What a stupid way to die. They both agreed.

This was it. 

Anti-climatic.

They’d never see if Gotham would get any better, never see anyone they cared about again, never see Bruce again… and everyone would _know_.

Then, suddenly, they stopped falling. They were… flying?

And for a moment they thought they had smacked the ground and hadn’t even known it, and now were going to heaven or something.

Then they realized, after the first half of the shock had warn off, that they weren’t so much as flying, as much as they were being carried. Carried by some incredibly strong arms.

They blinked and looked at their savior, not really caring how stupid and dumbfounded they both looked.

This mother-fucker was _big_. He looked up into a face that was somehow both chiseled and soft and friendly at the same time. His dark-brown hair was brushed back for the most part except for one seemingly unruly curl that flowed freely from the rest of his hair.

The man looked back at him concerned, and Duality nearly stumbled again when he was put back on solid ground.

“You… You…” Harvey cleared his throat trying to shake himself out of the shock of nearly dying and looked this massive guy up and down.

Red cape… big “S” on the chest…

“You’re Superman.” Harvey said rather dumbly.

Superman smiled brightly, maybe too bright, Harv thought he might go a little blind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope now the Clark/Justice League tag will start to make a little sense :D


	5. All that Glitters

“That’s what they call me.”

Harv stared at Superman for a minute, finally able to shake his nerves off enough to form a coherent sentence.

 **“…You just saved me…”** He said, thinking out loud. “… **I know you're fast and all, but with all the people in the world…?”**

“How did I manage to be here at the right time?” Superman asked, floating forward a bit closer, trying to be friendly.

Harv leaned back. “ **Yeah… It wasn’t like I screamed or anything.”** He noted, narrowing his eyes.

Superman seemed to shuffle his feet despite the fact he was floating, and suddenly the infamous alien hero seemed a lot less intimidating, and kind of just like another guy.

“I was coming here… and had been here to find you” He admitted.

 **“So you were stalking me?”** Harv accused while putting time into adjusting his cape that had come askew during the fall and was now hanging off the _wrong_ shoulder.

Superman scratched the back of his head. “I was… trying to see if you would be… you know… not-evil…”

Harv tipped his head at him. “ **Not-Evil… do you mean non-threating or..?”** He suggested.

Superman visibly cringed. “May… Maybe, Sorry Earth-English isn’t my first language, I still mess up colloquially.”

“ **Oh right… You came from outer-space or something. Was it about when you started popping up and saving people or…”** Harv asked, Harvey now pushing him to ask questions about where the super had come from out of curiosity.

Superman shook his head. “No, I was ten years old when my planet was destroyed, and I was sent here.” 

“ **Oh…** ” Harv replied awkwardly. “ **Sorry… about that… um…”**

“ _change the subject, abort, abort!”_ Harvey shouted internally.

“ **So… why were you looking for me?”** He asked quickly.

Immediately Superman beamed again excitedly and flew forward again, and Duality leaned back a little more. 

“I was thinking, I heard about you helping people in Gotham, and it seems like you have a lot of trouble…”

“ **I can** _handle_ it…” Harv declared taking a bit of offense.

“ _Sure…_ but I was thinking, if we work _together…_ like a bunch of us working together, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard.” Superman looked Duality up and down. “And you’d have someone to catch you when you fall!”

Harv grumbled in response, annoyed at the way Superman had said “sure” as if he couldn’t _really_ take care of himself, and was about to blow him off… then Harvey had to butt in.

“ _Maybe there’s another hero out there that knows their tech… Besides, Superman is a super-powerful alien from a super-advanced civilization, not a bad idea to at least entertain the idea…”_

He really hated it when Harvey had a good point. 

“ **By “a bunch of us” working together, you mean like… other Heros, Vigilantes… that kind of thing?”** Duality asked.

“Yeah! I thought it could be cool, combine our resources, get to know others you know… that deal with the same stuff?” He suggested. 

He was floating now just above him, feet pointing upward as he laid in the middle of the air like someone would on a couch when casually hanging out with someone.

“…I thought it might be a good idea to make friends with people who do the same thing.“ Superman continued, looking a little unsure of himself at Duality’s silence.

Harv cleared his throat. “ **Sorry… sometimes things like this… take me a second.”**

“ _A superhero club sounds fun!”_

_“ **I kind of liked the solo game… and don’t call it a ‘club’ fucking hell…”**_

_“Think of the benefits though!”_

_“ **I don’t know…”**_

They began pacing, both because leaning backwards away from Superman’s cheery face was beginning to make his spine feel strained and so they could give the impression of thinking very hard about the idea rather than arguing with each other about it.

“ _Come on Harv, we could meet someone… I mean… look at superman… how can you say no to that face?”_

Harv grumbled. “… ** _Fine._** ”

They turned back to Superman, crossing their arms and puffing out their chest so they at least _felt_ bigger. “ **I don’t** _hate_ the idea... but I’d like to know who else is, and going to be on board first, but otherwise I’m in.”

“Great!!” Superman exclaimed excitedly doing a small circle in the air at Duality’s confirmation. “I’ll find out and talk to you again soon, okay?”

 **“Well wait hang on whe-”** He tried to protest, but with a red blur and a gush of wind Superman was gone, leaving them both to wonder if that had even happened.

—-

Harvey spent way too long agonizing over what to make for Bruce for dinner. As he recalled, Alfred’s meals were a lot to live up to, and for all he knew Bruce had gained some eclectic tastes, maybe he’d consider anything they made to be “peasant food”. Bruce confirmed for him, he was still allergic to seafood, but everything else was fair game.

It didn’t help Harv was still grumpy about the whole thing. 

“ _I’m sorry Harv, I really am… you know why we can’t yet.”_

**_“If you can’t trust him with me, you can’t trust him at all!{“_ **

Harvey sighed, fatigued by Harv constantly spoiling his good mood and trying to convince him that he shouldn’t even try to mend the relationship with his friend.

“ _Please, Please Harv, we can get there but for now… you know what you need to do…”_

 **_“Yeah Yeah yeah, I’ll just sit up here making no noise and pretending I don’t exist. Go and convince Bruce you’re a perfect happy angel and you don’t have an ugly evil gremlin living in your head._ ** _”_

Harvey grumbled and put down the knife he had been trying to chop a carrot with, not really wanting to lose a finger just because they were arguing.

_“Please don’t be like that. You’re not an ugly gremlin, or evil. I want Bruce to know about you, eventually, I don’t want you to have to hide and I’m **not** ashamed of you, not anymore. I promise.”_

_“… **You better pray that your words are worth anything Harvey.”**_

Harvey took a deep breath, turning to his phone to put on calming piano music before immersing himself in completing adding carrots to the stew he had been slow cooking throughout the day. He had tried to settle on something that would be good but he could leave alone for a few hours without too much stress.

Once he was done, he paced the living room, trying to make sure he hadn’t left anything out of place, he double checked he had locked the door to the basement, he didn’t think Bruce was the snooping type, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

He then spent five minutes staring at his proudly displayed coin collection on one of the living room shelves. Should he put it away? Surely there were lots of people with coin collections, you couldn’t _really_ make a concrete connection to Duality… could you?

He took out his own coin and flipped it a few times to help him decide, not really satisfied with either head when it landed up.

Then there was a knock at the door and he realized he had no choice but to just leave it. He shook out his hands to relieve his nerves and re-pocketed his coin, putting a smile on his face as he answered the door.

He found Bruce in his winter coat, it and his hair and eyelashes flecked with little bits of snow. Harvey looked out past Bruce realizing briefly he didn’t even realize it had begun to snow.

“Hey Bruce! Glad you found the place okay!” He greeted, stepping aside immediately to let him in out of the cold.

“Hey Harvey…” Bruce greeted with a small smile, unbuttoning and shrugging off his coat - which Harvey took for him and hung up before really thinking about it. “I mean… to be fair Alfred found it not me, but I guess I found the door?” He said, slightly teasing himself before looking around the room.

“Nice place you have here…”

“Huh? Oh thanks, I know its not a mansion or anything but it has… _a_ guest room.” He said with a grin, putting his hands in his pockets.

Bruce hummed eyes still flicking around the room. “Nah, the manor is _too_ big, I still get lost in it. This seems about just right.” 

Harvey snickered slightly before going right into good host mode. “You want a drink or anything? I got some non-alcoholic beverages for you.” He offered. “Root beer, Iced tea, soda, sparkling water…”

“Root beer sounds good.” Bruce replied, before raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t get ALL of that for me specifically did you?”

“No! No…” Harvey protested as he crossed to the fridge before pausing guiltily. “Well, yes, but it's all stuff I enjoy too, anyway.”

He picked the root beer out of its case and poured his friend a glass. It was good to know that Bruce still had a sweet tooth.

Bruce accepted the glass gratefully. “Smells good in here… what are you making?”

“Stew, figured it’d be good for the cold, is that okay?”

“It sounds perfect Harv, thank you.” Bruce encouraged, sitting down with Harvey on the couch.

They began exchanging the usual topics of conversation, the old “how was your day” “what did you do” yadda yadda yadda. Harvey could feel Harv rolling his eyes at the surface level conversation. That was until Bruce made the most innocent of observations.

“You know, I just realized, I think this is the first time I’ve ever been over to where you live rather than the other way around…”

_Oh no._

“Haha… yeah, I guess your right. H-How about that?” Harvey tried to laugh off, Harv already considering nope-ing out and grabbing a bottle of whiskey and downing it, rendering them too oblivious and drunk to deal with the situation.

“Why… was that?” Bruce asked tentatively, apparently seeing the sudden distress on Harvey’s face and in his voice.

When the hell did Bruce get so… _observant?_

“Well… you know, My um… _parents…”_ He began, unable to help the venom slipping into his voice at even thinking of them. “They didn’t really want me bringing anyone over, you know?”

“Why not?” Bruce asked somewhat perplexed.

Harvey felt a little like bolting out the door and burying his head in the snow. He shrugged and turned away.

Bruce bit his lip, and was suddenly a little closer than he was before. “Harvey… why wouldn’t they let you have anyone over? You _know_ I won’t judge you, don’t you?”

Harvey grimaced. “I lied.” He confessed through his teeth.

“What?” Bruce asked looking a little shocked.

“I… I lied, it wasn’t because _they_ didn’t want me bringing anyone over, it's because _I_ didn’t want to bring anyone over.” He said, every word feeling like swallowing cough medicine.

He could feel Bruce staring at him, wanting an answer. Harvey swallowed, refusing to look at him, wondering if he should even begin to break down just how much he had lied to him over the years.

“Did I… ever mention my dad was an alcoholic?” Harvey began carefully, trying to figure out how he could get Bruce to get the idea without having to go too far into detail and risk reliving a particularly awful moment, having a breakdown, letting Harv go full force into rage at the absolute wrong moment…

“…No…” Bruce replied.

“Yeah… he liked gambling too. A lot. Ha… Haha, we have a lot of _funny_ stories about Dad’s drinking.” He said, growing tenser by the second. He begged and prey Bruce wouldn’t think much of his vocal slip of using “we” rather than “I”.

Bruce was silent for just a little too long. “When you say things are “funny” you seem to not be talking about very _funny_ things.”

Harvey clenched his teeth. “Yeah… I guess so.” He finally made himself look over at Bruce, and couldn’t stand the way his silvery-blue eyes looked up at him.

He couldn’t fully read him, but he knew those eyes wanted to look into him, wanted to seek the truth… but he was afraid those eyes he had once gazed into and fallen in love with would find something they wouldn’t want to see, and he’d never see them again.

“Harvey… did he _hurt_ you??” Bruce asked, knowing full well he was stepping on unstable ground.

Harvey tried to look him in the eye, thought about saying “ _No, It’s fine! It’s all fine, nothing bad happened.”_ But he just couldn’t do it.

Harv was flying in-between “ ** _Don’t hide what that fucker did to us!_** _”_ and “ _D **on’t say a damn thing and get us hurt again.”**_

It was agonizing.

“Yeah…. Yeah, he hurt me. A lot, often… yeah…” Harvey finally admitted.

Bruce was dead silent for a long moment. “I’m… so _sorry…_ I wish… I wish I had known…” Bruce lamented.

“I didn’t ever say anything. It wasn’t your problem.” Harvey said rather dead-pan.

“But you were my friend Harvey! You still are! I should have known, I should have noticed something was wrong… I _knew_ something was wrong…”

Harvey’s head snapped to him, the last thing he really expected was for Bruce to start beating _himself_ up. This whole time, he had expected to be flung questions like “Why didn’t you tell me?!” or “Why did you lie to me? What else are you lying about?” 

“Hey… I’m okay, aren’t I?” Harvey tried to say, reaching out and touching Bruce’s hand.

 ** _“Liar.”_** Harv hissed internally.

“I’m sorry if I made you talk about it too… if you didn’t want to…. made you think about it.” Bruce said looking down at the ground.

“No… it’s okay. I’ve _wanted_ to tell you, but I’ve never been able to tell _anyone_. It’s a miracle I ever even talked to a therapist about it, honestly.” He tried to explain. 

Bruce’s frown seemed to grow deeper. “Harvey… all those times you came over saying you had been in a fight…”

Harvey squeezed Bruce’s hands, and Bruce quietly squeezed back. “…It wasn’t a _complete_ lie, I _had_ been in a fight.”

“…with the person who was supposed to raise you…” Bruce finished, a darker undertone to his voice.

He nodded, confirming Bruce’s train of thought. He watched, curiously, as those eyes lit up with a deeper seeded anger, like he was about ready to invent time travel just to go back in time and beat up the man who dared to ever even pretend to be Harvey’s father.

His rage was then replaced with a melancholy sadness. “Then… the moment you got away from home I _left_ you.”

“Bruce…” Harvey mourned as he noticed his friend’s eyes get a little wet, but he knew Bruce was too stubborn to full on cry most of the time.

“I’m so sorry… what kind of friend am I? I… Harvey please… please forgive me.” Bruce said shakily, now squeezing Harvey’s hand back tightly.

“… ** _Pretty Boy…”_** Harv thought sadly.

“Hey, Bruce, its okay…”

“Harvey! It’s _not_! And _you_ shouldn’t be the one comforting _me_.” Bruce said looking at him upset. 

Harvey pulled Bruce into a tight hug, Bruce tensed up for a moment before slowly relaxing and hugging him back.

“You’re… you’re right, it wasn’t okay, it wasn’t okay that it happened, and there’s not a day that goes by that I wish I had been brave enough to speak up, or that I’m not _still_ angry that I have to go my whole life dealing with the aftermath of what he did to me, while he’ll _never_ feel remorse for what he’s done.” He told him, what had started out with hating the idea of even admitting what had happened, slowly turned into feeling like a weight was lifted from him. “But I _did_ get out. Sure, I really wanted to finally spend that freedom _with_ you, but life went on, I got help, and I’m okay. My life isn’t controlled by my parents anymore, and the only one who gets to decide who I am, or what I’m worth is _me_.”

He pulled away from Bruce and tried to give him a genuine, soft smile. The wetness had cleared from Bruce’s eyes already at least. 

“Yeah, I was mad at you, but I’m so glad we have a _second_ chance to be friends. I’m glad you’re in my life _period_ , and you still mean a lot to me.” He confessed.

Bruce smiled, and for the first time since they had re-met it actually felt like a real patented Bruce-smile.

“You still mean a lot to me too Harv.” He tilted his head to the side. “I’m just sorry I got too wrapped up in my own goals to really show it. But I’m _going_ to fix it, from now on, okay?”

“Okay Bruce.” Harvey said softly. “I appreciate it.”

He then stood as his timer to take the stew out went off. Harvey took a deep breath. “But, hey! Lets shake it off and have a _hopefully_ good meal and hang out, okay?” He proposed as Bruce followed him to the kitchen.

Bruce chuckled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

—-

“Harvey! This is delicious! And you were talking like you weren’t sure.” Bruce both praised and scolded at the same time.

Harvey could feel himself turning a little red at Bruce giving him praise. “Well… you know, I’ve only ever really had my own opinion to go off of.” Harvey said sheepishly.

“You and Alfred might even be able to go head to head.” Bruce winked at him as he took another bite.

“Me and Alfred facing off in Iron Chef… now that would be an honor.” Harvey said, faking wistfulness.

“I bet he’d like to see you again, Alfred I mean.” Bruce pointed out. “He’s also just glad I’m socializing again.”

“I’d like to see him again too…” Harvey agreed thoughtfully. “Remember that time we all made gingerbread cookies together?” Harvey said, pointing his fork at Bruce as he looked at him amused at the memory.

Bruce took a sip of water as if trying to hide the little smile that popped up. “More like you and him made gingerbread cookies, and I was quarantined to the sidelines, only allowed to ‘watch’.”

Harvey laughed. “You were always someone a magnet for disaster in the kitchen, whenever you went into the Kitchen Alfred used to shoo you out like he thought you were going to set the whole thing on fire.

Bruce grinned. “He hasn’t trusted me with even the microwave even since I managed to set it on fire.”

“ _Bruce!”_ Harvey wheezed. “How did you manage that?!”

“I _don’t know_. I don’t know why I have such bad luck in the kitchen!” Bruce said, throwing up his hands over-dramatically.

“You’re not _still_ that bad, are you?” Harvey asked, incredibly amused.

“I’m still banned from the kitchen, no exceptions.” Bruce said with an exaggerated sigh. “Rich boy problems.” He said, teasing himself with an eye roll.

“Well, you are a rich boy, I think you're allowed for it to show in at least one way. At least you're not like a… Lex Luthor about it or something.” Harvey pointed out.

Bruce grimaced. “If I _ever_ start acting like that kind of rich boy I want you to slap me.”

“It’s a deal.” Harvey agreed. “But I mean hey, people call you the “Prince of Gotham” right? Princes can’t get their hands dirty, especially not in the kitchen, right?”

Bruce snickered. “But even princes get to stab and fight people on occasion.”

Harvey laughed. “What, have you been doing any fighting or stabbing lately _Brucie_?”

Bruce just laughed.

—-

After a little bit of pouting that Harv grumbled quietly was beneath them, they managed to convince Bruce to stay and watch a movie with them. When they went to decide what to watch, Harvey wanted to faint a little bit after realizing just how much Bruce had _still_ not gotten around to watching since they had been apart. 

So Harvey ended up picking Raiders of the Lost Ark, only for Bruce to tease him because “You like it because the guy on the box is cute, don’t you?” , only for Harvey to mumble “His _Name_ is Indiana Jones and its a _classic_ movie, excuse you.”. It did nothing to get the smirk of Bruce’s face.

About halfway into the movie, Bruce gently tapped his shoulder. “Hey Harv? Where’s your lavatory?”

Harvey rolled his eyes. “You mean the _bathroom_? You dork. Use the one upstairs, the one down here needs work done… it's the door at the end of the hallway.”

Bruce snickered. “Alright, Keep watching I’ll be right back.”

Harvey gave him a half-hearted nod and turned his attention back to the movie, only half listening as Bruce dashed up the stairs.

As the seconds ticked on, he realized Bruce was taking a while, and was beginning to worry if he was sick. He then started thinking about how he had left his bedroom door open, and in a slight panic they began to question if they even closed their closet properly, if even a little of Duality’s suit was poking out…

Their heart stopped when suddenly they heard a _“Har-vey!!?”_ from Bruce upstairs, he paused the movie and jumped to his feet, slightly terrified as he heard Bruce heading down stairs _fast_. He was already trying to quickly form a speech, an explanation… anything…

“What is _THIS?_ ” Bruce asked whipping around the corner.

“I..!” Harvey began, only to realize Bruce was holding something gold and was grinning from ear to ear.

He had found one of Harv’s suits. The flashiest one, an impulsive buy of a fully glittery, golden, tuxedo. He was momentarily relieved before slipping back into being mortified because as far as Bruce knew… he was mr. plain and simple. 

“Listen… It’s just… Hey… why were you looking in my closet anyway?” Harvey said, trying to change topics and turn it back at him, for a very _valid_ reason.

Bruce looked a little sheepish while looking at the suit in his hands. “I didn’t mean to, it's just, when I was passing your bedroom door, you had left your closet open and I just saw a _glimpse_ of gold… I had to investigate.”

Harvey sighed. “It… It was for New Years, okay?”

“ ** _NeW YE ARS??? My SUIT is not a GIMMICK. It’s FUN, which obviously you know nothing about_** ” Harv raged in his head, highly offended.

“I never knew you had it in you!” Bruce said incredibly amused. “What else you have in there?” He declared, already excitedly running back up the stairs.

“Hey! Bruce!” Harvey protested, chasing him. “Excuse you! Do I go into your house and look through your closet?!” He shouted after him, face a bright shade of red and slightly terrified as Bruce ran back to his closet and threw it open.

“Yes, actually, remember? You made fun of me for being a goth.” Bruce said with a slightly maniacally smirk. “Too much black , you need to wear more variety at _least_ throw some white in there.” Bruce said, making an odd sort of monotone voice that Harvey supposed was his attempt at mocking the way he talked and mentally face palmed, knowing Bruce considered this a form of playful revenge for Harvey’s younger self, and mostly _Harv_ even if Bruce didn’t know that teasing Bruce’s taste in clothing.

Bruce audibly gasped as he pulled another suit out, and Harvey wanted to burry his head in a hole and never come out. Harv was now wheezing inside his head. It was very distracting.

“Is this leopard print? _”_ Bruce was smiling so excitedly, it was really cute and nice to see… even if it was at his expense.

“It was a gift from a friend, okay?” Harvey protested, voice getting horse and quiet, Bruce only seeming to take further delight out how red Harvey was. 

It wasn’t a lie, it was a gift from Selina… just a gift to Harv specifically.

Bruce laid it out on the bed next to the gold suit and stood back looking at both of them before looking back to Harvey. “Do you have an eclectic fashion sense you never told me about??”

“I…I …!!” Harvey stammered. 

He _didn’t_ Harv did, but Harv knew Harvey’s hands were tied, and was laughing his ass off at the stiff lawyer having to admit to something _fun_.

“…. .. yeah…” Harvey said quietly.

Bruce looked utterly delighted. “Oh… wow, I’m… I’m sorry I’m just imagining you doing a big campaign speech in a gold suit and… I kind of love it…” Bruce said, biting his lip as he looked like wanted to start cackling in delight. 

Then Bruce said the very thing he had been dreading, because he _knew_ Harv would just be encouraged.

“Well now you _have_ to put it on and _show_ me!” Bruce practically demanded.

“Bruuuucee….” Harvey whined.

“ _Please?”_ Bruce asked.

“Ffff…… I iiii ne…” Harvey huffed.

“ ** _DOES THIS MEAN???”_** Harv asked excitedly.

“ _Yes, Yes, you can do your show off thing so I can stop feeling awkward but you HAVE to let me talk, okay? You havn’t figured out how to not drop your voice and get all… gravelly.”_

 ** _“YEAH YEAH YOU CAN LECTURE ME LATER LETS DO THIS!”_** Harv thought, excited to finally have an audience.

He picked up the top of the gold tux, and sighed as he crossed to his dresser and pulled out the matching pants and glitter-y golden tie that went with it, which only seemed to make Bruce even more excited. 

Harvey tried to shut off his brain as Harv slipped on the tux, and had them burst back into the bedroom dramatically.

“Happy New Year.” Harvey said bluntly while Harv decided to wiggle his eyebrows.

Bruce snorted. “Oh my _god_.” He started laughing and Harv started laughing out loud along with him. “You look like a handsome disco ball.” Bruce wheezed.

“Well at least the handsome still gets through.” Harvey said, straightening the tie.

Bruce stepped forward and fiddled with the collar of the suit. “Well of course, its fitted nicely…” He said, almost admiring it.

“It’s so striking, I had no idea… you can be more out about it Harv.” Bruce encouraged.

Harvey raised an eyebrow. “I mean… I guess showing up to court in a Leopord print would give the press a hay day.”

Bruce smirked. “That would be pretty hilarious, but _seriously_ though, you could show up to a party with this kind of thing, It’d be _fun_ , its very distinct. I like it.”

Both Harvey and Harv were shocked. “You do?”

“Better than being goth, right?” Bruce winked at him.

Harvey’s chest felt warm, being accepted by Bruce for the second time that night… he didn’t know what he was so scared about, and he was sure Harv was beginning to come around too.

“To be fair, you were always a really cute goth.” Harvey commented.

This time it was Bruce’s time to turn a little pink in the face. “ _Cute…_ A cute goth sounds like a contradiction.”

“That’s what’s so amazing about you Bruce… er… one of the things…” He paused for a second. “Now can I _please_ get out of the gold suit now that you’ve seen it.”

Bruce hummed teasingly. “Well… alright…” 

Harvey was about to be relieved.

“But only if you show me the leopard print one next.” He added, once again grinning a bit evil-ly. 

Harvey slumped his shoulders. “You’re not going to make me do like a fashion show for you, are you?”

“I can’t just find out my best friend has an eclectic taste in fashion and _not_ get to see it.” Bruce argued.

“But… the movie?” Harvey tried to counter in defeat.

“We can finish watching the movie after, this is more important. Come on, show me.” Bruce declared, putting the next suit in Harvey’s hands with glee.

“Fine…” Harvey conceded once more.

“ _God dammit…”_

**_“HELL YEAH.”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an angst sandwich, fluff-angst-fluff.  
> Anyway, I think its important to show Harv(ey) and Bruce actually being really close with each other, even after having a rough patch/distance. Doesn't happen enough if you ask me. Like even if DC will never let them be together romantically, I at least want them to enforce and keep them being best friends dammit.  
> And that's my mini pedestal for the day.  
> And! If it wasn't clear! There is going to be a Justice League in this universe, just waiting to tag it until it's more appropriate.


	6. Kal-El

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Also known as "How to Make Friends With Superman"

_ “So you're suddenly on board with Bruce now that he liked looking at your fancy outfits, huh?“ _

_ “ _ **_Hey, can’t stay mad at Pretty Boy forever.”_ **

Harvey rolled his eyes but accepted Harv’s answer. It was better for Harv to act like he had always been the pinnacle of a healthy moral compass than spend their time distracted and arguing. 

When Bruce had left the previous night, he noticed he looked oddly focused for someone who was up and going home at midnight, but he supposed maybe Bruce had gotten used to late nights torturing himself at college.

It felt good though… to have let Bruce get a glimpse of Harv, even if it was an accident, and he didn’t know it was another personality of his specifically.

Back when Harv seemed to be the prosecutor in their system, Harvey might have been a little more terrified of Harv sharing any part of the “driver’s” seat, so to speak. There was certainly a time before therapy and attempting to find out exactly  _ why _ Harv was so angry and judgmental of Harvey’s “softness” and when he came out… Harvey would have the terrifying feeling of disassociating and having a massive gap in his memory when Harv fronted. While Harv still made him nervous at times with his more…  _ emotional _ attributes… he at the very least glad he understood the how, what, and why now.

The Why?

Harv had started as a protector for Harvey when he was a boy, he was the one that took the brunt of the abuse when Harvey felt scared and alone. And it was oftentimes why Harvey didn’t remember all of what had happened to him as a kid and teen until way later.

Then Harv became tired of being repressed because Harvey was scared of his own anger… and whatever it was that made others look at him in shock and sometimes horror when he would have a gap in his memory.

So Harv became the prosecutor. And it wasn’t until Harvey got lucky enough to have a roommate that even slightly had a hunch about what might be going on and bugged him until he got a full psychiatric evaluation.

It had been a bitch and a half to get the money for.

As if college didn’t already have him broke enough.

While learning about his other half, that he even  _ had _ another half had been horrifying and made him feel like a massive freak… well at least he could learn how to cope with it now that he knew what  _ it _ was.

Neither of them liked to think what would have happened if they had tried to repress or ignore the problem and be quietly at each other’s throats for any longer. 

Even so… that didn’t stop Harvey from being terrified of what people would think if they knew about Harv. Selina seemed to accept it easily when she found out. She had been confused at first, sure, she had never even heard of DID in her life prior to that point.

But Selina was… Selina. 

Hell, he was already worried being found out to be bisexual would make his career a lot more difficult, he didn’t know how they would cope with news titles like “Gotham’s District Attorney Two-Faced… Literally!”. People voted for Harvey Dent… not Harv after all…

Maybe if he told Bruce he had DID it might help Bruce understand why he hadn’t told him a lot all those years… because Harv was taking most of it… and what Harvey DID remember well and experience himself, he didn’t like to think about or speak of if he could avoid it even now.

But also… well… despite how easy it was starting to feel to be around Bruce again… well… could they still trust him? Fully? Especially after Bruce had left? Even if they were beginning to get over the anger at it, it was still kind of a betrayal of trust for your best friend that you had been there for, had just packed up and left unexpectedly and hadn’t even bothered to call.

He could forgive, but that didn’t mean they’d forget right away.

They still felt good about what they HAD told Bruce though. Harvey found his thoughts drifting to him as he allowed Harv to put not nearly enough cream in their coffee. He hummed as he took a sip, only to be knocked out of his train of thought (which was something along the lines of how Bruce’s eyes were just as heart palpitating striking as he remembered) by a light polite tapping at his kitchen window.

He nearly spit all his coffee out and dropped his mug when he saw  _ Superman’s _ face smiling back at him and giving him a polite wave. 

“ **WhATERYUDoINNNGHESHERE?”** Harv sputtered out as they coughed from what felt like liquid going down the wrong pipe.

“Is this a bad time?” He replied through the window with a tilt of his head like a god damned puppy dog that had zero clue they did a bad thing.

“It’s a bad PLACE what if someone sees you?” Harvey hissed, peeking out the window nervously past Superman to see if anyone was looking before quickly sliding his kitchen window open to let the MASSIVE man slip through and float into the middle of his kitchen.

He had an actual super Demi-god of an alien man  _ standing in his kitchen _ .

“Do people not know you’re Duality?” He asked with wide eyes.

“I… do…” Harvey gaped at him.  **“Are you dense??? I mean, do people know who YOU are when you're not wearing the skin tight suit and the cape???”**

Superman stared at him thoughtfully. “I mean… technically not I guess… but I don’t  _ go _ anywhere with a lot of people I don’t know as  _ not _ Superman…” He scratched the back of his head. “Gosh, I’m sorry, It just seemed so obvious to me… and the fact you’re a public figure and you’re just… going in and out of your very lovely home like that… I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Harvey sighed. “You  _ shouldn’t _ have, just because you can figure it out easy because your  _ Superman _ and probably have… …. super-senses, doesn’t mean everyone else does or that I’m not  _ trying to keep the fact that I do vigilante stuff as a night job on the down low. _ ” He said finishing his last sentence in a whispery hiss as he took Superman’s arm and guided him into the hallway and  _ away from any windows _ .

“You don’t have a base? Or a fortress?” Superman said blinking a few times.

“ A District Attorney’s salary doesn’t pay THAT much.” Harvey pointed out in exasperation.

He was getting a little tired of people assuming you had to have powers or a ton of money to get anywhere in the hero business….

“ _...It would make things easier though…” _

“ **Not everyone has a super high tech base of operations** ** _Karen_** **”** Harv hissed.

Superman blinked. “My name isn’t Karen…” He replied looking more genuinely confused than offended.

“Right… you’re a little iffy on the earth culture thing… but like… don’t you… I don’t know, still socialize with humans sometimes?”

Superman shrugged. “Sometimes. I see my guardians sometimes… but most of my time spent not helping people is spent… alone…. And most humans are scared of me or don’t want to get to know me.” He rambled, shuffling his feet.

He suddenly shook his head and shrugged. “But hey! I’m Superman! Its no big deal!”

Harvey, knowing himself and Bruce well enough, knew that ‘it’s no big deal’ in this context always meant something along the lines of “Please help, I’m suffering inside.”.

Harvey ran a hand through his hair. “Ok so… well… you’re here, what did you want to tell me?”

Superman suddenly beamed with pure glee clear in his eyes. “Oh! I managed to find a few other people that are trying to do what we do, they’re interested too! We just… have to figure out a place to gather and meet up and all… and I guess a like… super… secret… … what is it called?? Throniv? Has something to do with heads?”

“...Headquarters?” Harvey offered.

“THANK YOU.” Superman gasped, slapping his head. “I completely blanked on the word.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I was basically raised to be bilingual since birth and I still space on words in both English and Spanish. Did you just have… one universal language where you came from or??” Harvey asked, unable to help his curiosity.

“Yeah, we only had the one Kryptonian language, there were different dialects of course… When I came here, the man and woman who took me in were really patient with me trying to understand them once I realized they wouldn’t hurt me.” Superman explained. “But yeah! We should… have a headquarters or something. I thought we could use my fortress, but I think it would be too hard for everyone to get to.”

“Well I’ve been using my basement, if I could afford to quietly get a super-secret base, I would.” Harvey complained. 

Superman perked up. “I can crush coal into diamonds! Would that help? Diamonds are something that’s worth a lot for humans right?”

“Well actually the rarity of diamonds is something that’s completely fabricated, and even if that did happen, trying to sell them comes with its own… difficulties. But hey, diamonds are very useful for other reasons, so hold on to that one.” Harvey encouraged.

“ **_This man can make diamonds with his bare hands, he could crush our head like a grape, should you really be so… friendly?”_ **

_ “Oh come on Harv, look at him, he’s like a lost puppy.” _

_ “ _ **_We’ve talked about you taking in strays… Don’t be overly chill with him just because he’s got those big wide baby blues!”_ **

Harvey ignored Harv’s paranoid warnings and thought for a minute.

“I know they were building a large subway system under Gotham ages ago, but they ran out of money to finish it, so they blocked it up. But it's still down there…I think the new subway sometimes parallels it, at least theoretically, but I don’t think they intersect... maybe we could do something with that?” He suggested thoughtfully.

Superman bit his lip and tilted his head as he thought about it. “Secret tunnel… that sounds kind of fun.” He said excitedly. “No one else would go down there, maybe once we’ve all met we can slowly add to it… I could bring some stuff from the fortress to help us out! And it’d be good for it to be below Gotham… there’s… a lot going on here.”

“Yes, thank you, too much most of the time.” Harvey said wearily. 

“This is so exciting!” Superman chirped. “Are you doing anything? We could go try to find the secret tunnels now!”

“Okay okay, let me just down my coffee here and change.” Harvey said before gulping down half his cup.

“ **But please don’t stand near or in view of a window while I head upstairs** .” Harv decided to comment distrustfully.

“ _ Um.. I thought I do the talking to people??” _

_ “ _ **_Bitch he figured out we were Duality in 0.05 seconds, and we’re going to be in a “club” with him, I see no point in hiding the fact I exist for ONCE”_ **

_ “Okay, okay, no need to be so salty, geeze.” _

_ “ _ Yes Sir!” Superman chirped like a god-damned peppy boy scout or life coach.

Harvey downed the rest of his coffee on the way upstairs, brain starting to buzz to life with caffeine, he looked begrudgingly at all of Harv’s outfits that had just been left out that he’d have to put away later before darting to the closet to get out his vigilante outfit. 

“ _ We really need a better way to store this. _ ” Harvey thought.

Once he was changed he poked his head down the stairs.  **“Hey big blue, think you can get us out of here without being seen? I don’t usually go out like this in the dayli-”**

Before Harv could even finish his sentence his breath was nearly knocked out of him as the giant man collided with him, shifting him into a bridal carry that Harv wasn’t particularly fond of and suddenly… he was set down on top of the building where Superman had first caught him from falling off of. 

Duality stumbled slightly, trying to catch his balance as he felt a little dizzy after coming to a stop.

“Oh… cool…” Harvey stammered.

“May I ask a personal question Mr. Dent?” Superman said curiously.

Harvey stiffened. “I guess so…”

“Why does your voice sometimes change? Is it your power or… I just haven’t seen someone do that before.” He asked rather innocently.

Harvey grunted, now that he was asked, he knew Harv would be happy to be  _ seen _ by someone… he mulled it over, well, if they were going to be on a team… and who was Superman really going to tell about it?

“I have Dissociative Identity Disorder.” He said plainly.

Superman looked confused. Of course he wouldn’t have heard the term before. Harvey sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“It means I have two distinct personalities, there’s me… Harvey, and Harv who usually talks in a lower register. It… usually happens in humans as a response to trauma to… avoid bad memories. Me and Harv are more or less co-fronting now, it wasn’t always like that though…”

“Fronting?” He asked looking a little more confused.

“God, its… uh… like… Okay, someone with DID is like…if you have people driving in a car, you have someone in the driver's seat, so it's like… both me and Harv are in the driver's seat, but sometimes one of us has more of a say in where we’re going… not everyone who has DID is like us though, some have more personalities… I’m… pretty sure there’s only two of us. It’s kind of complicated for me to try and explain.” He rambled.

Superman put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey! It’s okay. I’ll look up more about it now I’m aware of it, thank you for explaining it to me. I’m excited to get to know both you and Harv… and now the name Duality makes more sense!” He chirped gleefully.

It made their heart feel a little warmer. “ **To be fair… I didn’t pick the name Duality, it just sort of… stuck.”**

“I didn’t choose the name Superman either.” He laughed.

“Well what is your name then?” Harvey asked with a small smirk.

“Kal-El… or just Kal if you want. It’s nice to meet both of you.

Harv chuckled. “ **It’s nice to meet you too, Kal.”**

It felt nice to be seen… maybe this partnership could work out.

* * *

* * *

“You’re right, I can see the end of the old tunnel that was covered up here.” Kal-El said as his eyes stopped glowing a pale blue.

They stood at the bottom of a hill that now had a highway bridge go over it. 

“ **Now we just need to figure out a subtle way to go in and out…** ” 

“Hmm… hang on, I’ll follow it and see if there’s a better way in.” Kal-El rose off the ground, eyes glowing bright blue again, and he flew off.

Harvey picked at some dirt underneath his nail as he waited. Superman was back less than a minute later.

“Okay, I found an entrance by another bridge - I think it was going to be an entrance to one of the stations before they blocked it up, there’s some tightly locked metal doors, but those shouldn’t be a problem!”

“Oh! Yeah! I’ve been learning how to lockpick!” Harvey said slightly excitedly.

“Oh… well I could probably snap it open, but hey! You can do that too!” He encouraged. This massive man really did sound like his life coach.

“Oh… right…” Harvey said sheepishly before clearing his throat. “Well lead the wAHY”

He was once again whisked off to a new location, and stumbled again feeling sick to his stomach.

“Okay… pLEASE warn me or let me finish my sentence before you do that again?” Harvey pleaded putting one hand on the concrete wall by the large metal double-door as he tried to will his stomach to calm down.

“Sorry,” Kal-El replied bashfully.

Superman was able to unlock and pry the old, almost never touched door open with ease and allowed Duality to step in ahead of him. 

**“We’ll have to up the security on that somehow.”** Harv commented.

“I can probably figure something out.” Kal-El replied, stepping in and closing the door behind him just as Duality turned on a flashlight so they could look around.

They descended down long dusty stairs into the cool slightly damp underbelly.

“This could work though… did the supports look relatively okay when you were flying over?” Harvey asked as he ran their flashlight over the ceiling.

“Seemed like it. There’s other entrances too, which could be good for a subtle way of getting around Gotham. We just have to both clear them up and make them secure.”

“Well with you here I bet that won’t be too hard.” Harvey quietly praised. “Who else did you get to be interested by the way?”

“Oh! Wonder Woman is interested, the Flash, and one of the Green Lanterns!.” Kal said happily. “It was really nice meeting them, I can’t wait until we all have our first meeting!”

Harvey gave Kal-El a small smile in response. It had to be hard to be the only one like you on an alien planet. “Yeah… it’ll be good… this is a good plan. Thanks for finding me.”

“Thank you for not being scared of me and willing to give it a shot.” Kal replied gratefully.

“ **Pfft… how the fuck could I be scared of a walking ball of sunshine?”**

Kal smiled softly as they continued down the tunnel to explore it, Superman seemed to have a slight skip in his step despite floating 6 inches off the ground and not stepping at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took me so long! Special thanks to CauseImAnArtist for Beta-Reading for me!!!! <3


	7. Lineage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes things come back to haunt you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning for this chapter - deals with concepts like abusive parents, trauma, and a main character having a panic attack. Second half of the chapter is lighter, and this is probably as in depth as I'm going to go with some of these things - but if any of these topics could be potentially triggering, please listen to your instincts and take care of yourself and/or proceed with caution.

Harvey was content that night when out on patrol, Superman had left to tell the others interested about their fixer-upper meeting spot, and even if they had been on the solo… or rather… duo train at first, they found themselves thinking it might be nice to not be the  _ only _ one patrolling Gotham most of the time.

On top of that, it was  _ actually _ quiet in Gotham for once! Only a handful of muggings and attempted robberies, his best friend was back in town… maybe things were actually going to get better!

It was a nice thought at the very least.

It wasn’t long after they arrived home, 2:30AM to be precise, when his phone suddenly began ringing. He picked it up quickly, most people only called so late if it was an absolute emergency.

Harvey stilled, and he felt Harv react like he wanted them to throw the phone at the wall as their eyes ran across three simple letters.

M-O-M

Harvey’s thumb hovered over the answer button as he felt his heart rise into his throat. He closed his eyes. If she was calling this late… calling him at all, it had to be important… but it was such a good day, did they really have to talk?

Begrudgingly he answered and slowly brought the phone up to his ear.

“Hi… mom… what’s up?”

The other line was quiet for a long moment, he was beginning his mother had called him on accident… that was until he heard a long sigh.

“Well… your father is dead… thought you should know.”

Harvey heard the words but failed to process them. 

“Dead… huh…” 

“Don’t sound so excited.” His mother said in a deadpan voice. He could hear her pause to light a cigarette… a habit he had picked up from her himself. “Got the call today, apparently there was a prison riot… bad one… and he croaked.”

“Sounds like a way he’d want to go out.” Harvey said, sinking into a chair, he couldn’t hear or feel Harv at all… it was distressing.

His mother responded with a rare huff that was as close to a laugh or a smile as she ever got.

“Half of me keeps expecting him to pop back up like the stubborn jackass he always was.” She commented snidely.

She had lit another cigarette.

“Are you doing okay?” Harvey asked slowly after another long, awkward pose.

“Yeah, popped champagne I've been saving for when he’s six feet in the ground.” 

Harvey rubbed his eyes, feeling himself go slightly numb. 

Another long awkward pause.

They didn’t talk. Ever. About everything.

It had never been a secret that Luis Dent hated Christopher Dent with every ounce of her being. It wasn’t until Harvey moved out and never called that she ever stopped resenting him for somehow being what forced her to stay with his father. Or… maybe she still resented him.. She just stopped mentioning it. It had taken Harvey ages to un-convince himself that his mother and his own misery was his fault simply for existing. It wasn’t his fault that both his mother and father came from a background that had bizarre rules about marriage when it comes to accidental pregnancies and silly things like birth control. 

But they weren’t ever going to confront those issues, and they weren’t going to start now.

“Well I have work in the morning, so unless you need me to… I don’t know… do something? I should really get some sleep.”

“Yeah alright, I get it, too busy bringing home the bacon to talk to your mother.” She said snidely.

Harvey put his hand to his head. “It’s past 2:00AM mom… Look, I don’t want to argue, just...”

“A call once in a while wouldn’t kill you.”

**“Since when have you been interested?!”** Harv bit back, startling Harvey slightly.

“Look here kid, you should be grateful you got what you did, I nearly broke my back raising your spoiled ass and your father was absolutely NO help and completely  _ ruined _ me and I can’t get as much as a call or a thank you?!”

Harvey wanted to rip his own eyes out. He tried to remind himself that deep down… his mother wasn’t mad at him, there wasn’t anything wrong with him, she has her own issues she’s taking out on him…

But… that didn’t help at all. He could feel Harvs rage bubbling up.

“ **Yeah thanks… thanks… for letting dad toss me around like a ragdoll and THANK you so much for constantly reminding me I’m a worthless mistake and a huge burden on your life.”** Harv growled, gripping the arm of the chair so hard it began to creak like it was going to snap clean off.

“I raised you to be a fighter Harvey, you wouldn’t be where you are if it hadn’t been for me doing the best I could given the circumstances. You would have done jack shit with your life if you didn’t take some tough love.”

Harvey put his head in his hands, trying to breathe and calm down. “So… you acknowledge that dad is an asshole, but you’re a  _ perfect _ parent so I should be  _ grateful _ for what I was put through?!” 

“Your father was far from perfect, but I could have left you there alone with him, but I didn’t, I stayed behind to care for your ungrateful ass.”

Harvey groaned. “Yeah… I know mom, I’m ungrateful, stupid, spoiled, whatever… I’m going to bed.” He hung up before he could even get snapped back at.

His head felt heavy, like his brain had suddenly turned into a bowling ball and was weighing him down. He tried to pull himself up.

“ _ Go to bed… go to bed… go to bed… don't think about it…” _ He tried to tell himself.

But instead he fell forward onto the floor, curling into a fetal position as his chest grew tight and his throat clenched up. His breath labored. He wasn’t sure when he started sobbing hysterically, but it erupted out of him like a volcano.

He felt like a kid again.

So full of hurt.

Frustration.

Anger. 

Fear…

And no where to place it. 

He was right back to the time he was hiding under his bed, sobbing just like he was now, hands over his ears as he tried to block out his mom and dad fought and screamed at each other and hoped that one of them wouldn’t decide to go looking for him to take it out on.

His vision began to tunnel, he was almost sure he was hearing that same shouting in the room with him.

Harv gripped onto his arm, seething with anger. He stood, slowly… shakilly.

Harvey wasn’t with him. He stumbled into his bedroom, hands in his hair.

Why  _ them _ ? He hated it, he hated that their mother was able to get any scrap of control or reaction out of him. He yelled, swinging his arm towards the wall so hard that the dry wall crumbled under his fist.

“ **_I hate them I hate them I hate them…”_ ** He sobbed.

His father was dead, died in a prison fight.

He wished the man who dared to call himself a father had died alone, miserable in a ditch somewhere. He wished that somehow, he could put that man through every painful thing he had  _ ever  _ done to him and Harvey and then…

He began to calm down, starring forward as he slowly caught his breath.

“ **...Harvey?”** He asked quietly to the air.

He hadn’t  _ not _ been co-conscious with Harvey in a long time. Yet now…

Here he was… just him…

Harvey had retreated and dissociated completely…. He was alone.

\----

Harv awoke in the morning, to Harvey’s usual alarm going off. He watched the fan up above him spin, letting the alarm tone ring for a full minute before finally shutting it off and sitting up.

“ **_Harvey…_ ** ” 

He felt a little shaky, he didn’t really know what to do, should he call their therapist?? He dragged himself up to the shower. It was still early in the morning. Earlier than he’s ever liked to be up.

Harvey couldn’t be… gone… could he? No… no he had to just be down for the count. That personality… heck… the  _ host _ couldn’t just disappear like that, right? 

The thought terrified him. He hadn’t  _ not _ followed Harvey’s lead when it came to their daytime life in a  _ long _ time. He tried to ignore all his feelings of dread as he didn’t shower as much as stand in warm water and stare off into space.

He  _ had _ to take the lead… he had to do damage control… somehow, even though he knew he was better at  _ causing _ damage than preventing it. He called their secretary.

“ **Uh… hey yeah, I’ve come down with something.”** He tried his best to fake a cough and make his voice sound more hoarse than usual. “ **Can’t… come in…** ”

“Oh… shoot, yeah you sound  _ awful _ . I’ll see what I can do. Get some rest!”

Harv glared forward. “ **Yeah… thanks. Talk soon.”**

Okay, one problem sorted. 

He quickly called their therapist, starting to wander around anxiously, still hoping Harvey would resurface soon.

He closed his eyes and sighed as he got their answering machine… they had to be with another client.

He left a message, explaining the situation, trying to take deep measured breaths. He was supposed to be the  _ protector _ . What kind of protector would he be if something happened to Harvey?!

He had to just be being quiet… he had to still be here somewhere… in some way…

He laid down and closed his eyes. He almost wanted to drive up to where that  _ bitch _ that had sent Harvey into a panic attack and strangle her… or drag her ass to the shittiest old folks home in existence. Or even just shout at her and tell her exactly what he thought of her. 

But then he would be putting himself and Harvey near her. 

It wasn’t worth it… no matter how much he wanted to fight back.

How perfect that his mother had made all their thoughts about  _ her _ and  _ her _ cruelty after giving him the news that the man that had made his childhood a living hell and called it “building character” was  _ dead _ .

He didn’t even know how he felt about it.

Maybe these feelings he had to want to hurt, to hope that in his last moments his dad felt some sort of regret or at least  _ suffered _ didn’t do any good, didn’t help at all… but he still felt them. He had learned not to act on his violent thoughts to lash out… at least most of the time.

“ **_Taking revenge will only hurt me…”_ ** He repeated to himself.

Even if he sometimes didn’t really believe that, that restraint took more strength then revenge… for his own… and Harvey’s sake, he’d keep those thoughts for a therapy session rather than do something drastic.

\---

When Harvey opened his eyes, he was short of breath and his eyes felt strained. He shot up and scrambled for his phone.

3:30 PM?!

How long had he been out? Had they been sleeping or…

“ **_I called work for you, I apparently sound awful… you’re welcome.”_ **

_ “Thank you…” _

_ “ _ **_You scared me.”_ **

_ “I’m sorry.. I couldn’t… I couldn’t control it.” _

_ “ _ **_Don’t apologize… I know why, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just…… I was scared.”_ **

Harvey looked around, the last thing he remembered was curling up on the floor after a call.

Oh… that’s right… his dad was dead…

He didn’t think more of it as his eyes fell on a dent in the wall.

“ **_Oh… yeah, about that, I had a moment last night after you retreated.”_ **

_ “Just because we have the last name Dent doesn’t mean you should literally put Dents in the wall you know.” _

**_“Yeah Yeah, I know.”_ **

Harvey could tell Harv was trying really really hard not to stress themselves out even more. He appreciated it.

“ **_We have an appointment with the Doc first thing tomorrow morning just FYI.”_ **

“That’s very responsible of you Harv.” Harvey complimented as he slowly got up, stomach growling… Harv had a habit of not eating unless it was empty calories or sugar.

“ **Gotta make sure I protect the system right? Being one of the idiots that lives in it.”**

Harvey smiled calmly, he was exhausted despite having supposedly been sleeping for a while. He made himself a tuna salad and tried to distract himself… which in this case involved opening a social media app, scrolling, closing it, opening another one… scrolling… reopening the first one… rinse and repeat.

Then his phone dinged again. He dreaded that maybe his mother was pestering him after hanging up on her last night.

Instead he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Bruce’s name.

“ _ Hey Harv, want to grab a coffee? I’m not sure when you get out of work.” _

Yes… please, they really needed to get out and not think about things for a while.

“ _ Hey Broody B! I took off work today. But clearly you have a late night ahead of you too if you're wanting coffee after 4PM, so sure lets do it.” _

_ “Haha yeah, my sleep schedule is messed up :-)” _

They decided on a coffee shop, and Harvey took his time getting ready and cleaned up. He could still feel his nerves acting on edge, but both him and Harv were looking forward to talking to Bruce for a while.

They weren’t sure what they’d say… but it still sounded nice.

* * *

* * *

There was a weird time in Harvey’s life when he almost resented Bruce for making him feel the way he did. Dry throat… butterflies in his stomach. It killed him when he had to watch Bruce go to prom with a girl in their class that he  _ knew _ Bruce just went with to be nice to her after she had worked up the courage to ask him.

Not they could have gone together anyway… not without risking a lot… it was the 80s afterall. 

Harv had been insanely jealous the whole time, and also briefly beat up on Harvey for even liking Bruce in the first place because “ _ why can’t you just be  _ **_normal_ ** _?!” _ Which really, in how Harv tended to speak back then meant “Why can’t I be normal? If I was normal maybe I wouldn’t get hurt and beat up so much.”

But now, the butterflies in their stomach when they saw Bruce messing with his hair that had been blown loose from the heavy wind were more than welcome… because just seeing Bruce now made him… really happy.

“Hey Harv!” Bruce said rather cheerfully as he held the door open for him.

“Hey Bru.” Harvey replied, the smell of freshly ground coffee and sound of the whirring espresso machine helped him calm down further. “Coffee was a good idea, thanks.”

“Of course! I’ll pay, don’t worry.”

Harvey might have protested but Harv pointed out there was no point in arguing over free coffee.

“Oh, thank you!” 

Harvey made a mental note to remember this cafe, it’d be a nice place to work.

“So, anything new to report?” Bruce asked, downing half his coffee in one sip.

“...No… well…” Harvey scratched his cheek. He didn’t want to lie to his friend… “My dad is dead, I guess that’s different.”

“Oh that’s… huh… how did you find out?” He asked, not seemingly entirely phased or shocked by the news.

“My mother called me at 2:30AM to tell me, then you know…” Harvey scratched at his hand. “Got on me for not calling her… told me I should be grateful for what she did and how I was raised because I’m a “fighter”. So really, she only enforced why I don’t like talking to her.”

He looked back at Bruce snapping out of his rambling as he recounted the event in a disconnected tone. “Sorry that’s… uh… not fun to talk about.”

“You don’t have to sugar coat things or hide them from me Harvey. I’m just… sorry you had to deal with that. Are you… okay now? Okay as you can be?” He asked worriedly.

“I had a  _ rough _ night, but I’m doing better today. I don’t even know how I feel about dad being gone. I’m not  _ sad _ … at all… but some stupid part of me kind of hoped… that, I don’t know… being in prison, being forced to not be drinking… maybe he’d, I don’t know, have some sort of regret or something? Like he’d come back and say… “Sorry”.” Harvey sighed, closing his eyes. “Not that an apology would have done anything… but maybe it would have been closure. Like I have to keep on living with what he did… and he’s just poof gone… Does that make  _ any  _ sense?” 

Bruce hummed and thought for a minute. “I haven’t gone through anything like that, but I can imagine you have a lot of complicated feelings over it, I think I understand what you're trying to say, I certainly understand the need for closure.”

Harvey sighed. “I’m glad you get it because I’m not sure I do…” He shook his head. “Anyway, enough with my pity party, how about you? How are you doing?”

Bruce hummed, giving Harvey a slight side glance. “Well Alfred thinks it's great we’re talking… he’s excited to see you around again.” He said with a calm smile.

“Aw man… I’ve missed Alfred too, and his cooking.” Harvey replied, immediately perking up.

“I’m sure he’d love to have you for dinner soon.” Bruce added with a wink. “But yeah.... I’ve just been keeping busy, nothing super exciting to report.”

**“** **_He’s so pretty, has he always been this pretty? I’ll answer this for you… y e s. That’s my verdict.”_ **

Harvey couldn’t help but smile at Harv’s gushing, and he had to agree.

“Well I guess nothing happening is way better than everything bad happening.”

Bruce chuckled. “That’s certainly true.” He downed the rest of his coffee.

“Oh, by the way, since I’ve been back I’ve been reading more about this vigilante that showed up in Gotham since I’ve been gone. Duality?”

Harvey barely avoided choking on his coffee. “Oh yeah? The commissioner seems to think highly of him.” He said trying to play it off cool.

Bruce smiled calmly. “Well what do you think about him, Harv?”

“Well… I couldn’t have prosecuted a few cases without evidence he found and brought forward so that’s handy… though I haven’t er… really gotten to know him.” Harvey said with a hand wave and a goofy grin. “So I can’t make a perfect judge of his character.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows in amusement. “Are you able to contact him if you want? I imagine if he helps out Gordon and you by extension, you’d have to have a way to get in touch with him.”

Harvey shrugged. “I mean there’s the light signal I guess, what, do you want me to hook you two up?” He teased with a raised eyebrow.

Bruce chuckled. “No, I’m good. Just curious.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Harvey replied, giving him a joking side glance. 

“Though then again… do you know how tall he is?” Bruce winked half jokingly.

Harvey rolled his eyes. “Always about the super tall people with you huh?”

Bruce leaned forward on the table, a coy smile on his face. “Yes,  _ Mr. Dent… _ I do like tall people.”

Harvey stared at him for a moment before turning beet red. “Oh… yeah I’m taller than you now, huh?”

Bruce raised his eyebrows comically high in amusement. “You  _ just _ now noticed you're taller than me?”

“I..!” Harvey tried to protest, but he found himself completely lost for words.

“Harvey, you're practically a  _ giant _ .”

“Well I … um… see.. Here’s the thing… I just… uh… well…”

“ **_Bravo genius.”_ ** He could practically hear Harv clapping mockingly in the crevices of his mind.

“I guess I just… forgot!” He said nervously tugging on his collar.

“You’re a dork Harvey, that much hasn’t changed.”

“ **_HA. He called you a whale penis.”_ **

_ “Please shut up. … … ... thank you I’m grateful for you but SHH.” _

“It’s funny that’s the first thing I noticed when I saw you.” Bruce said as a side note, looking down at his empty coffee cup.

“Oh… yeah?” Harvey stated more than asked. If he wasn’t red before he was now.

“... you know, I think I’m going to get a refill on my coffee.”

“Wow, counting on a  _ really _ late night then, huh?”

Bruce laughed. “Yeah… something like that. It’s a real problem.”

Now that was a real Bruce laugh. It brought a smile to Harvey’s face, and as he watched Bruce’s back as he got his second cup of espresso, he realized half mournfully and half wistfully that he was just as in love with Bruce Wayne as he had been as a confused and lost high school boy all those years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again so much to causeimanartist for beta-reading! <3


	8. Oath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first ever meeting between Superheros is due to happen, as long as Harv(ey) can get there in one peice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eYY IM WORKIN ON THIS AU AGAIN sorry for the hiatus! Too many ideas... so little time lol.

At some point it seemed Superman had slipped a letter underneath his front door, because he came home from late coffee with Bruce to find the letter on the doormat with:

“ _From Kal-El :) <3” _

Written plainly on the front. 

They both were highly amused as they walked into the kitchen to open the letter… Superman had really nice handwriting… 

“ _Hi friend!_

_We’re going to try and have our first group meeting underground tonight at 8PM, through that door - go left then take your second right, there’s a big open space!_

_I hope you can make it!_

_See you then,_

_Kal._

_P.S. We’ll probably have to figure out a better way to communicate. I’m hoping Green Arrow can help with that - he says he’s “Not lex rich but he’s doing very well for himself”- I’m not sure what that means or how to quantify it but still. This is too long for a “P.S” I’m sorry.”_

Harvey found himself wishing he had that sort of peppy upbeat language, he was intrigued at the idea of Green Arrow being a part of it too now. Actually he was curious about everyone. If he could get them to help with Gotham sometimes too… well… the more the merrier as they said.

**_“Maybe Green Arrow could help us get a better grappling hook.”_** Harv thought, clearly still salty about The Batman’s far superior grappling gun.

“It’d be nice… that’s for sure… I’m glad Superman took the initiative, it would’ve taken us years to track down these people… if we even thought of the idea.”

So with that, Harvey put the letter in his dresser drawer for safe keeping, and put Duality on, more than ready to stretch his legs and head out onto the streets. It was still two hours to 8PM, just enough time for a quick patrol if nothing went _too_ awry.

* * *

Harv had been taking a water break, hanging his legs off one of the buildings as he sat despite Harvey’s groaning about sitting that close to a ledge. It was a pleasant night for once, surprisingly devoid of clouds. If it weren’t for the light pollution you could have seen the stars.

Then, the moment of rare peace was loudly interrupted by a large explosion a few blocks away that lit up the night with a fiery rage only a few blocks away. Duality scrambled to their feet trying to see where the explosion came from more clearly.

It appeared to have come from one of the many abandoned buildings in Gotham… so why??

They picked up their pace, when they reached the building across from the one that had the explosion come from it, they saw that the building was somehow still in-tact but definitely smoking. He bit his lip, it was possible that there were simply more explosions that didn’t go off but…

What if someone was inside? Maybe they could find a clue to who set them off too…

He sent his grapple flying across the street, letting it hook on to one of the window ledges, after testing it’d be supportive, he swung and flung himself into one of the mostly broken windows on one of the lower floors.

There was definitely rubble everywhere, it was eerily quiet despite the small flames in certain places that hadn’t caught yet. Then he saw a pile of rubble move and a groan, he darted over to the pile and began clearing the rubble, lifting up a chunk of the roof that had fallen on whoever was below.

It was… another one of Falcone’s men??? This one… This one he recognized.

The man coughed as Duality lifted him up and grimaced as he was lifted…. Broken rib…

**“What happened?”** Harv growled.

This man was the one that had shot at Harvey Dent and tried to take him out after a speech about ending corruption in Gotham.

The man coughed. “Fuckin’ terf war ‘s gettin’ out of hand.”

**“Terf war?”**

Duality put the man’s arm over his shoulder, carrying him out despite feeling like maybe they should ditch him. Then again… who knows how he’d managed to get himself tangled up with Falcone. Maybe more info could get pulled out of him once he was arrested… 

“Yea… No one knows why but a bunch of the other Bosses out there are suddenly trying to step on each other’s terf even though we’ve been cool for ages. Our boss has it out for Penguin cause he’s sure his guys stole a bunch of stuff from his office a whi… fUCK this hurts.”

Penguin? But Selina was the one who… unless she was working for… no… no she wouldn’t call Penguin “kinda cute”...

**“Try not to flail so much…”** They replied, ready to kick down the door to lead this guy out to get some medical attention… 

That was until Harv(ey) got a swift kick in the side, it knocked the wind out of them and caused them to drop the guy he had been carrying, he whipped around fists raised, only to be confronted with a man in a familiar white mask.

**“What the fuck was that for?”** He growled.

“Leave him.” Batman said firmly.

Duality stared at him. Batman didn’t seem to flinch at his raised fists.

“ **He _needs_ medical attention.”**

“If he got injured due to criminal activity that’s _his_ problem. Not yours. Let him drag himself out of the mess he made.” Batman said with a slight show of his teeth

Duality grumbled. **“Look if I leave him in here the rest of the building could collapse and he could die. If he’s a criminal we let the law deal with him.”**

Batman grimaced. “The _law_ has let men like him run loose in the first place. If you’re a vigilante and not licking the boots of the police force, you’d understand that.”

Duality glared at him. **“I _know_ fully well how flawed the police and the justice system are, but letting someone die in a building if they can be saved is not the way to go. It is not up to us to decide who lives or dies.” **He stated firmly. **“He has the right to a fair trial, If you skip the justice system all together you’re no better than one of th-”**

Duality was cut off suddenly, a gloved hand was suddenly around his neck pushing him up against a wall. “No better than one of them? Was that what you were going to say?”

Harv could feel Harvey panicking at being restricted, but they had to keep it together.

“ _I_ don’t shoot people for hire.” 

Harv coughed as Batman’s knee collided with his stomach. He tried to use his strength and his weight to shove Batman off him, but instead the momentum was used against him, and suddenly he found himself flipped over and pinned to the ground, arm twisted behind his back and boot planted firmly on his spine to keep him down.

“I don’t murder for a paycheck. I don’t _take_ innocent lives. People like _him_ do. People like him wouldn’t just leave you behind to die, they’d shoot you a few times for good measure.”

The man Batman was referring to had started trying to crawl away while the two were fighting, and was swiftly met with a batarang slamming into the concrete inches from his nose.

Duality locked his jaw. “ **Maybe. But I’m not a monster. I still won’t let a human being die if I can do something. “**

Finding his strength and will again, Duality used his previously flailing arm to unhook a coin from his belt, sending it flying at the Bat’s head, smoke erupting from it.

Batman growled, it was enough to startle him so they could throw him off from pinning him down and scramble to his feet.

Batman emerged from the smoke quickly, making a swing for Duality’s face. This time they managed to catch his fist in their hand and grab the wrist of his other arm before he could do anything. 

**“You don’t have to like it, or agree with it, but I’m getting this man out of here.”**

The Batman pushed back almost animalistically and viciously. “So then what? What if he escapes? Goes on to kill more?? Kill someone’s family, or friend? When it could have ended _right_ now by no other decision but his own?”

This time Duality slammed Batman against the wall he had just been pinned to. “ **If he escapes, and continues to follow the path of crime if the justice system fails again, you can beat me up all you want. But he _survived_ tonight, providing the building doesn’t collapse, which it may _not_ at this point. He wouldn’t have died anyway.”** He leaned close to Batman tightening his grip. “ **Unless _you_ want to finish him off yourself because you think he deserves it.”**

With that Duality let Batman go. He gestured to the man who was still struggling to move and very much in pain.

“ **I’ll even stand back. Pretend I didn’t see a thing. According to your argument, if he doesn’t _die_ tonight he’ll kill more, so how about you take him out? One of those fancy bat shaped thingies outta’ get the job done.”**

The man on the ground trembled. “N...now hang on now!”

Batman’s lips thinned, glancing down at the trembling man on the ground. 

“I-I’ll go straight! I promise! This whole near death thing really taught me a lot.”

Harvey rolled his eyes under the mask, his lawyer coming out. This man really wasn’t helping his own case. But this man wasn’t his client, nor was he a lawyer at this moment.

He was still willing to call Batman’s bluff. And if the Bat did kill… well… they’d cross that road when they came to it. But the way this costumed man spoke about his idea of justice, somehow… he thought he wouldn’t commit the deed himself.

The Bat’s gaze narrowed at Duality. 

Batman took his grappling gun from his belt, aiming it behind him and shooting it so effortlessly through the window Duality dropped through earlier, it seemingly hooking onto something successfully without any effort. The Bat was suddenly being pulled up into the air and out the window, leaving Duality and the man behind.

Duality let out a deep breath, half relieved his gamble had paid off. He pulled the man up a bit harshly, pulling him out the door as the police finally decided to show up. One of the policemen ran over, tucking their gun away as they ran over with a few other officers to take the man Duality was carrying.

“Great…” The man mumbled.

**“He has a broken rib. He’s the only movement I saw in there.”** He explained, handing the man over to be cuffed and taken into custody.

“...Hey… this is the dude that was caught on the security camera that tried to assasinate the DA!” One of the cops realized. “There’s been a search out for him for months!”

**“He should have fun in court with the guy he tried to take out then.”**

The man groaned more. “Shoulda known… bad idea…” He grumbled. 

Duality left as firemen stormed the building to search for other bodies and stop any fire from spreading. He pulled up his sleeve to check his watch…. 7:59 PM… he was going to be a little late.

\----

He darted through the underground tunnels quickly. He heard Kal-El’s voice echo as soon as he walked in.

“Oh! He’s here!”

Must be nice having super-hearing. He sort of wished he had that, maybe then he wouldn’t have what had to be two massive fucking bruises on his stomach and side.

When he turned the corner into the larger area Superman had mentioned in the letter, he saw Kal waiting for him eagerly along with what he assumed was Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow.

...Wonder Woman was a lot taller than he thought she’d be… tall as him even, maybe taller… not that he was complaining.

**“Sorry I’m late. Got in a fight.”** He said honestly.

Green Lantern laughed. “Actually all of us were late for the same reason. I think Flash and Supes here were the only ones on time from what it sounds like.”

Wonder Woman smiled softly and shook her head. “As always, it’s the never-ending battle.”

Harv(ey) smiled slightly. 

Flash grinned. “Yeah, and even then that’s only because we’re both _super_ fast, we both came right from scuffles ourselves….huh… I wonder which of us is technically faster.”

Superman tilted his head thoughtfully. “Maybe we should race sometime and find out.”

“Hey! You could make a charity event out of that.” Green Arrow quipped with a grin.

Hang on… that beard, that voice… no way…

“That’s a great idea! Less than 5 minutes with all of us together and we’re already making a great team!” Flash exclaimed excitedly.

“...Oliver?!” Harvey blurted out while looking at Green Arrow as the realization hit him. He slapped a hand over his mouth in terror realizing he had just exclaimed that out loud.

The others stood stunned for a second, Oliver looking at him in pure shock as he looked Duality up and down… it was clear after a moment he had figured it out too as he put his hand to his head in realization.

“Harvey?! Harvey _Dent_?! No fuckin’ way!”

Wonder Woman looked between the two of them in amusement. “You know each other outside of “work” I presume?”

Green Arrow walked forward arms outstretched. “Know him? I went to highschool with this big guy! We hung out a bunch!” He exclaimed as he brought a still stunned Harvey into a hug.

Harvey hugged him back. “What are the odds oh my god….” 

Kal gasped happily “You knew each other in highschool?! This is even better!!”

“I’m… uh… sorry I just… blurted out your name…” Harvey apologized. His name had been blurted out too but well… he figured he probably deserved it.

“Hey it’s no problem. We’re among new friends here. I’ve read up on these guys and they’re good people. Besides… something about Superman and Wonder Woman makes me think he’s got good intuition on what people to trust.”

Harvey nodded slightly in admitted agreement. 

Wonder Woman held up her lasso, it had practically lit up the whole room in a warm glow. “I also think if you all would be willing, perhaps if we are to form a team of sorts, we might start off on an oath to build trust?”

Duality felt a pit in the middle of his stomach. It wasn’t that they weren’t willing to take an oath… but perhaps if this team was going to work, if _Oliver_ was going to be on it… and Harv was the one in the drivers seat as Duality… they should know. Superman already knew… were they really willing to tell several strangers as well as Oliver about their DID before Bruce?

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Bruce… right? 

No they trusted him… it just… wasn’t the right time for him to know.

They followed suite as they all took up the lasso as per Wonder Woman’s instructions.

“On this day, we all vow to protect both humanity and each other. We will protect each other’s identities, where we live and work. No other ears shall hear of what is said to each other unless we all specifically consent to it, no matter what, agreed?”

“Agreed.” Harvey said, everyone else followed suite.

Everyone was about to let go of the lasso when Harvey stopped them. “Wait…. There’s something else about me you should all know if we’re going to be on a team together.”

They all gave him their attention, a mix of confusion and concern.

Harvey swallowed had, now that he had all these eyes on him. He decided he would try and be as cold and technical about it as possible.

“I have what is called dissociative identity disorder. If you don’t know about it, it means I have multiple personalities that developed in response to childhood trauma. As far as I am aware, I have one other personality, and he tends to drive the bus when we put on this mask. However because I have this disorder, sometimes my second personality can act without me remembering what happened… so I think he should agree to this oath as well.”

Diana nodded in understanding. 

Harvey took a deep breath. Harv hesitated. He had never been known to this many people… ever… but that only egged him on further, maybe… finally he could be in a group where he could be out and himself. “ **I agree…”**

Diana nodded with a small smile as they let go.

“Hey mans, I know that had to have taken a lot to be honest about.” Green Lantern said stepping a little closer to him.

“... **Mans?”**

Green Lantern shrugged with a grin. “Well if I just said “man” that would only include one of you, right?”

Harv snorted. “ **Yeah, I guess so. Thanks “man”.”**

Harvey could tell Harv especially was going to like this guy.

“Well I kind of feel like to be fair to uh… Oliver and Harvey, maybe we should all give our names too?” Green Lantern suggested.

Without waiting for a response he grinned. “I’m Hal Jordan, pilot.”

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow. “Alright _pilot_ ,” she replied teasingly. “I am Diana.”

“ **I go by Harv… you know.. If Harvey isn’t the one talking.”**

“Harv and Harvey… that’s easy to remember. Love the “H” gang we got going on here.” Hal grinned proudly.

“Kal-El.” Superman stated shyly.

Flash hesitated for a second before shrugging. “Wally. Nice to meet all of you. Glad Kal thought of the idea to get us all together.”

“Hear hear!” Hal announced excitedly.

Oliver stepped forward. “The location is good too, It’s central to all the cities we normally work. I think the place just needs a little love and it’ll be a rocking HQ in no time. I can put money into it.”

Harvey looked at Oliver. “So… how are you going to fund it without that money being tracked?”

Oliver twiddled his thumbs. “I don’t know if I should say that with you being a DA and all…”

Harvey laughed. Well… maybe some rules could be broken.

“I won’t say a thing.” He promised.

“Well first thing, is I had these made…” He pulled out a box from the pack on his hip and opened it. Inside it were small clear ear pieces.

“These will let us communicate with each other anywhere. When you have it in your ear you just press it in talk, and if you need to turn it off, double tap… same to turn it back on.” he declared proudly.

“Damn, fancy.” Hal mused as they all took their separate ear pieces from the box.

“Thank you for your generosity.” Diana encouraged, easily fitting the device in her ear.

“You and me should talk, I’m not an engineer nor do I have the money to hire one.” Harvey teased.

“...you know actually… could we talk for a sec?”

Oh boy, he knew what this was about. “Yeah, no problem.”

“Cool, no listening superman.” Oliver said in a teasing tone.

“I won’t, I promise.” Kal replied holding his hand up honestly.

Duality followed Green Arrow down the massive halls of the abandoned subway until they were far enough away that they themselves couldn’t hear the others they left behind talking.

Green Arrow pulled down his hood and took off his mask to look at Harv(ey) seriously.

Duality paused for a moment before doing the same.

“Hey um… I know it’s none of my business, but back then, I kind of knew something was up, but I didn’t… well I didn’t think at all…” He said with concern, shuffling his feet.

Harvey put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, really.”

“Did Bruce know or..?”

Harvey shook his head. “No. I mean he knows now… not about the DID but… the other stuff…. Now…”

Oliver looked at him curiously. “He finally show up again?”

Harvey nodded. “Yeah, happened to run into him at a charity gala and that’s how I found out he came back.” He realized he still sounded more bitter than he meant to.

“Damn… you two were so close I figured he would have called at least.”

“ ** _You would figure.”_** Harv thought.

Harvey shrugged. “We’ve talked about it. He decided to pick two of the hardest and most time consuming majors so that was a big part of it.”

“You’re much more forgiving than I could ever be… Still must have hurt…” He said, seemingly like he was mostly thinking out loud.

Well… they couldn’t deny.

“Yeah…”

Oliver pat him on the arm. “Well hey, I’m glad you’re doing okay now… _both_ of you. If you can get down to Star City I’ll help you out with equipment.”

“ **Yeah, you’re gonna be a life saver honestly.”**

Oliver laughed. “Well in a way it’ll be nice to work on something that’s not arrows.”

“I’m amazed you did actually manage to do something with those archery skills.” Harvey stated as they began walking back to the rest. Pulling their respective masks back on.

Oliver puffed out his chest. “I _told_ you and Bruce it would come in handy someday.”

“We really should have listened.” Harvey laughed.

“Yeah you really should have. I’m _never_ wrong.” He boasted with a playful nudge to Harvey’s shoulder.

“You _really_ want to take that stance with a lawyer?” He teased.

“I will gladly take you to court and wreck you with that statement.”

Turns out they kind of missed Ollie too.


	9. Give it Your Best Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes honesty is hard... or outside forces get in the way.

It had been a few weeks since the Justice League first meeting, as well as the encounter with Batman. Harvey was pretty certain this case with his attempted assassinator would be an open and shut case. There was footage of him doing it, witnesses spotted him running from the scene… plenty to get him locked away for life. 

Harvey was starting to feel things were on the up and up. Though one thing was still bothering both him and Harv.

They still hadn’t told Bruce he had DID despite having suddenly told several people he knew a lot less. Granted… he had done it while everyone was holding on to a literal magic lasso that wouldn’t allow them to lie about their intentions as they all took an oath… but still.

Surely he didn’t need a lasso to be able to trust Bruce with that kind of information. There was no way Bruce would sell them out publicly… right? No… Bruce wouldn’t be the kind of person to use that information for blackmail, they were almost sure of it. 

So Harvey, with Harv’s encouragement sent the text he had been dreading.

_“Hey Bruce… I have something I want to talk about. Wanna get coffee then go somewhere private?”_

He was staring at his phone nervously. They wanted to get coffee first because he knew his nerves were going to need time to cool off.

_“Sure Harv, let’s meet at the same place as last time in an hour and we can go somewhere to talk, okay?”_

_“Thanks Bru, see you there.”_

Harvey decided to head straight there despite it would only take 30 minutes in Gotham traffic to get there. Harv was starting to get anxious. Wondering… even if Bruce wouldn’t sell them out… would he be freaked out? Or disturbed? How would he react to Harv? Some people treated them as if they were possessed whenever they switched or Harvey dissociated. While dissociation was rare for them these days, it was still a possibility… they didn’t know. They were nervous, way more nervous than they had been when they at least had a damn mask on.

Harvey had already downed his first coffee by the time Bruce arrived, but he acted like he had just gotten there and hadn’t gotten one yet despite how obviously jittery he was.

Bruce put an arm on Harvey’s shoulder. “Hey, Harv, whatever it is, it’s okay, alright?”

“Yes, it’s okay, I… yes… great…”

Bruce furrowed his brows but didn’t comment further.

He wound up getting a venti. It was going to be okay… he’d tell Bruce… and it would be okay. Then… before they could walk out, there was an all too familiar sound of a gun going off. Harvey stood in shock as he realized the glass of the cafe window had shattered from something piercing through it. 

...Were they in pain? There was screaming… Bruce looked absolutely horrified as he grabbed him. Someone was yelling his name… Was Bruce screaming too??

They felt a little woozy, and looked down to realize they were bleeding. He had been shot.

Oh… they had been shot.

They were falling. The only thing he could think of, was not the horrific pain of having a bullet rip through him, but the fact that Bruce had seen it. That … would have to be the worst thing for Bruce to see.

The rest was a blur, he heard a commotion outside… a blur of red, Bruce’s face never fully left him despite how he slipped in and out of consciousness… he was being rushed into a hospital and…

Nothing else.

* * *

* * *

* * *

Harvey’s next memory was him sitting in a wide expanse of nothing. He stood, he didn’t feel any pain… where was he?

He heard footsteps, he was afraid at first, then he saw Harv, as Harv always seemed to be to him… mostly him, but his hair was wild and out of place, and of course he was wearing one of his favorite studded jackets. Nothing like the clean put together Lawyer Harvey was.

It suddenly made sense to them. They were in their own mind. They must be dreaming or… in a coma… or something… or maybe they had died?

“ **Of fucking course that would happen.”** Harv complained.

Harvey ran a hand through his hair. “If we don’t make it, well… we can’t do anything about it but Bruce… what if he’s just re-traumatized?”

 **“Classic that you’d be worrying about someone else when you’re the one that got shot.”** Harv reached into his coat pocket and pulled out their coin, flipping it on occasion as he paced. “ **But… I agree with you. He didn’t need to see that.”**

Harvey sat down on the ground and sighed. “Harv… I have a question. Do you think… maybe the Bat-guy was right? Maybe this could have happened because of someone we helped or let the law deal with in past.”

Harv groaned and sat next to Harvey. “ **My brain starts hurtin’ when you start talking about the whole dragonfly affect.”**

“I think it’s the butterfly effect Harv.”

“ **Whatever, that’s not the point, besides butterflies are lame.”** Harv complained.

Harvey snickered. 

“But seriously though… what if… what if we got it all wrong? I mean… it’s not like I fully _disagree_ with Batman, but at the same time it feels like… taking it too far.”

Harv grumbled. “ **Well why are you asking me? I always gotta be pulled back because I’m _too_ violent.”**

Harvey bit his lip. “Maybe… maybe that’s how we should have been, maybe I’m just getting in the way.” He laughed sadly. “As always… I just get us hurt… and probably other people get hurt because of me because I’m… I’m _weak_ ”

Harv reached out… about to put a hand on Harvey’s shoulder.

They paused for a moment and looked up at the same time. They thought they heard Bruce’s voice… it seemed so far away… “ _Harv… whoever did this to you… I swear. I’ll… I’ll!!”_

Their eyes opened. They realized someone was laying on their arm and holding his hand. 

“...Bruce?” Harvey asked, feeling a little bleary, likely he had a lot of pain killers in him.

“Harv...Harvey!” Bruce’s headshot up and he scooted closer. 

He noticed Bruce was wearing something different than he remembered…. Had he been crying? His eyes looked red.

“How… long has it been?” He asked trying not to sound panicked.

“Five days, you had to have surgery… the … … it barely missed your lungs.” Bruce explained with short breath

“ ** _Fuck.”_** Harv cursed.

Fuck indeed… That meant Duality had also been gone for five days… not to mention there was no way he was going to just get up and run out of the hospital that quickly.

“Fuck.” Harvey said out loud.

He then looked at Bruce in concern. “Are you okay Bruce?”

Bruce stared at him like he had just transformed into an Alien. “Harvey… you’re the one that… …. Why are you asking _me_ if I’m upset, I don’t matter here.”

Harvey looked at him sternly. “You do matter here Bruce. I… I wish you hadn’t seen that.”

Bruce wiped at his face. “Dammit Harvey… why… why… are you always worrying about me? You’ve always done that… then you get hurt. Or you were hurting the whole time and… and I didn’t do anything because you were always trying to look after me.”

Harvey felt a pang of guilt and squeezed Bruce’s hand a little tighter. “...I’m sorry. I just don’t like talking about _me_. It’s hard.”

Bruce sighed and hung his head. “I know… It’s not like I don’t get the feeling. I just… I don’t… want to loose you. I already messed up so bad, because I was trying to deny how much you meant to me to myself. Then… we’re finally meeting up again, and if you had died? When we barely began to be around each other again?”

Harvey could see Bruce starting to beat himself up. “Hey shh, B… Don’t think about that. I’m okay now, and I’m going to be okay… alright?”

Bruce stared at Harvey for a second before slowly nodding. They sat in silence for a moment, Harvey realized he had never let go of Bruce’s hand… it felt… nostalgic to hold his hand like this again.

“Hey Harvey… before…. ….. What did you want to tell me?”

Harvey’s voice caught in his throat. 

“ _Harv what do we do?!”_ He tried to ask.

But he realized that Harv wasn’t even close to the front of his consciousness. He’d have to actively try to trigger him to the front to get him to show up and he sure as hell didn’t want to put either of them through _that_. Even a “positive” trigger was a horrible unpleasant feeling.

“I…” Harvey tried to start.

They were alone, this would be the perfect time.

“I um… Bruce… I…” He looked Bruce in the eyes. “There’s…. Well… I haven’t…” He stammered.

“I miss you.” He found himself blurting out instead.

Bruce looked at him quizzically. “That’s what you wanted to tell me in private?”

“Well I mean… it’s uh.. More than that actually I…” Harvey stammered. “Oh god this is difficult…” He groaned wiping at his face.

“Bruce… I….” He tried to look at Bruce, who was looking at him so curiously. So ready to listen to whatever he had to say. And yet, his words failed him again.

Maybe it was too much right now… after everything, he didn’t want to freak Bruce out more… and what if it caused him to beat himself up more knowing that Harvey had a long term problem stemming from his childhood and a whole other personality that Bruce knew nothing about and didn’t know if he could trust…

Just then Bruce leaned forward after studying Harvey’s lost and flustered face and Harvey suddenly realized he was receiving the softest of experimental kisses.

He felt like his chest was going to burst, so many memories of the small kisses they had shared in private, Bruce being his first crush and best friend that had developed into more in private. Bruce was kissing him, he missed this oh _god_ this what he missed wasn’t it? He missed this… He hadn’t even fully realized how much heartache he had pushed himself through from the last kiss they had ever shared… to feeling like he had forever lost the quiet boy he had fallen head over heels for all those years ago… even if being together back then would have been terrifying and complicated.

Bruce pulled away slowly studying Harvey’s stunned face before a slightly impish grin spread across his lips. “Was that what you were trying to say? Or did I guess wrong?”

“ _Fuck.”_

Harvey stared at him in pure shock, before melting slightly. “Yeah that’s… bingo… can we do that again?” He stammered blearily. 

He wanted to blame the painkillers for making him sound like an idiot that had once again not really been able to tell Bruce what he wanted to.

Bruce leaned in again, and this time Harvey lifted his arms to grasp Bruce’s shoulders and pull him in, closing his eyes and enjoying the closeness that felt so familiar yet… so far away.

Well fuck… now when were they going to tell him? Their wedding?!


	10. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harvey needs to get something off his chest, for real this time.

When Harv emerged again… needless to say he was incredibly confused as to what the hell had just happened. Then when Bruce left using a peck on the lips to say goodbye along with a “Get well soon and call me.” … that confusion had turned to rage.

_“ **Are you fucking kidding me Harvey!?”**_

Harvey winced at Harv’s anger. 

“ _What’s the problem?! I thought you liked Bruce too…”_

**_“Yeah. I do. And he doesn’t fucking know I exist.”_ **

Harvey heaved and tightened up. “ _Harv, I really was trying to tell him… then he kissed me and… my mind pulled a blank.”_

**_“You could have told him before he left. Said something like “Bruce if we’re gonna do this there’s SOMEONE you should know about.”_ **

Harvey closed his eyes, he really didn’t do well with being yelled at no matter who it was. Anger anywhere near him immediately made him feel overwhelmed and slightly terrified.

“ _I didn’t want to ruin the moment…”_

He immediately knew he had responded incorrectly.

“ ** _Ruin…”_**

He could feel Harv’s anger boiling over. _“I didn’t mean…”_

**_“I know exactly what you meant. I just ruin everything for you don’t I?! Sure, you ‘tolerate’ me, but you’re ashamed of me. You don’t want Bruce to know you’re not Mr. Perfect.”_ **

Harvey had begun shaking slightly and put his head in his hands. “ _Harv please…”_

**_“Are you ever planning on telling him? Or are you hoping I’ll vanish so you just never have to bring it up?!”_ **

Harvey realized he had started scratching up his shoulders as his other personality berated him. 

“ _Harv, I’ll tell him, I’ll tell him, just please stop! You’re sounding like…!”_

Harvey froze, realizing what he had almost accused Harv of being like, but despite not having uttered the word he knew by Harv’s sudden cold silence… he had really hurt him.

“ _No I don’t mean… I’m sorry!”_ He pleaded.

But it didn’t matter, Harv wouldn’t respond. And once again he was left in unsettling silence. Confused.

He hadn’t even had a moment to think of Duality, what could be happening without them patrolling the streets… all the work that would have piled up… the frustration of how much longer full recovery might take… He fell back against the pillows in the hospital bed and covered his eyes.

He thought about Bruce. He thought about how much he had missed kissing Bruce, and was starting to miss him again now. 

How could he possibly justify rekindling something he desperately wanted to have with his best friend if he continued to keep this from him? He would have to tell him about Duality too at some point… maybe he could justify putting that one off but...Harv was obviously hurt and upset at once again being faced with the idea of Harvey being with someone, he also loved… and that person having no idea he existed within someone Bruce thinks he knows fully inside and out.

He kept coming back to the question too of… did he trust Bruce? Maybe… it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Bruce to treat the subject with kindness and respect… maybe some part of him still thought if he had somehow been _better_ Bruce would have never left in the first place. Perhaps… some part of him still thought that if he told Bruce… he’d leave again.

But the longer he sat there the more he felt adamant that yes… he had to tell Bruce the truth. If for some reason Bruce would leave over that… then maybe the potential relationship wouldn’t be worth it anyways. Besides, Harv may justifiably get sick of it and kick Harvey out of the driver’s seat even if it meant causing Harvey mental stress just to be seen.

It was settled, he would tell Bruce when he visited again, he’d write himself a damn script if he had to. It had to be done. For _real_ this time.

* * *

* * *

Harvey anxiously watched the news as he sat in bed, still a bit addled by check ups and pain killers. The Terf wars were now public knowledge, it seemed Duality’s absence hadn’t been noticed yet. Apparently Superman had made a few appearances in Gotham, which Harvey made a mental note to thank him for later, as not only was it keeping the city safe, but it was noteworthy enough to distract from some of the other tidbits. It was weird seeing the attack on his life being reported on in the news. He had grown used to being a public figure, but some things still weirded him out.

His therapist had made a visit at his request. He told him Harv had retreated after an argument, and most of what he felt from him was still anger and anguish.

The session had gotten Harv to ease his way back out, Harvey had found himself disassociating fully at one point, so he wasn’t entirely sure all of what Harv and the doc had talked about.

When he came to he realized Harv was close in consciousness to him again.

_“ **…I’m sorry for yelling Harvey.”**_

Harvey sighed in relief that Harv was even being open with him. “ _No, I’m sorry that I equated you with… him…”_

**_“…I know anger and rage has a bad effect on you, and I did it anyway… some protector I am. I fell back into being a judge.”_ **

“ _I know why you’re hurt though. Bruce will be here to visit in an hour. I’m going to tell him.”_

Harv paused, before guiltily replying, “ ** _You… don’t have to if you don’t want to.”_**

 _“I want to.”_ Harvey affirmed.

The hour before Bruce was due to arrive felt slow and fast all at the same time. They took some time to walk around now they had been given the go ahead to do so, which absolutely helped with many of the nerves.

When Bruce walked in their heart immediately started pounding, but Harvey beamed at him.

“Hey Bru.” Harvey greeted.

“Hey Harv, you look like you’re feeling better.” Bruce chirped, seemingly in a good mood.

Harvey smiled back and scooted over, patting the bed beside him. “I got something I gotta talk to you about.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows. “Something else? Am I in trouble?” He asked teasingly.

Harvey snorted. “No. But It _is_ important.”

Bruce sat down, giving Harvey his full attention.

Harvey inhaled deeply. “So… if we’re gonna… you know… be together again, which I want _so_ bad, you have no idea… you need to know something about me. Hell, you should know even if we didn’t…”

Bruce’s chipper smile faded into a look of concern. “What do you mean?”

“Bruce… I have Dissociative Identity Disorder.” He said slowly, watching Bruce’s face for his reaction.

It was clear he had trouble processing what Harvey had just said. “ _What?_ ”

“As far as I know, I only have one distinct personality other than…” he gestured to himself. “The one you know. With therapy we’re… pretty close, but it also means he _fronts_ a lot and is often co-conscious with me.” He explained, trying to explain quickly to outrun the oncoming anxiety.

Bruce studied his face in alarm. “You… was this… I…” he stammered, confused as to what his next question would be.

“It comes from all that… childhood crap I told you about. But I didn’t know about it until after you were gone, but it’s more than possible it began developing back then and I wasn’t aware of it yet.” Harvey shifted uncomfortably; he could already tell Bruce may be starting to think ill of himself for not noticing like he had with the guilt around not realizing Harvey’s home life had been so bad.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I guess… I kind of didn’t want you to worry or… I don’t know… I thought maybe you would not really want to be around someone like that. But I couldn’t start something again with you and _not_ tell you, it wouldn’t sit right…”

Harvey suddenly found Bruce’s hand on top of his. “Harvey I…” he furrowed his brows. “Of course with what happened to you… there’s no way you would just be _ok_ or it wouldn’t affect you at all. This does _not_ change how I feel about you.”

Harvey felt a weight beginning to leave his chest.

“And… I’ve been a bad friend, I don’t blame you for not wanting to tell me, I’m just glad you’re giving me another chance.”

Harvey smiled sadly. “I’m not mad about it anymore, Harv had a hard time letting it go, but he’s protective of me. He still thinks the world of you too.”

“Harv… is he..?”

“My second personality, yeah.”

Bruce thought for a moment. “Oh… when I call you Harv as a nickname, should I instead use it to refer just to him?”

Harvey almost wanted to laugh, he was beginning to feel silly about ever thinking Bruce would handle this badly.

“He’d probably like that, every time someone calls me Harv he grumbles about it. He’s… a lot more flashy than me, some of the weirder clothing I have is actually because of him. So it drives him nuts sometimes that I have to keep him to myself so often but I mean… well you’re a public figure too, more so now most people know you’re back, you know the kind of shit I could get for that.”

Bruce nodded and sighed. “People at large still aren’t very understanding about those topics. Well… I’ll gladly change how I use that name now. Also, I’m glad to be able to tell Harv directly I greatly enjoy his choice in clothing.”

Harvey almost wanted to scream that Harv chose that moment to finally front after leaving all the talking to Harvey.

“ **Thanks pretty boy.”** Harv replied with a smirk and a wink.

Bruce was obviously taken aback by the change in voice and demeanor, but he didn’t shy away.

“It’s nice to formally meet you Harv.” He then raised an eyebrow. “You’ve called me that before… back in high school, whenever I questioned Harvey on it I always thought Harvey was playing dumb about not knowing he said it… was that you back then?”

Harvey could feel Harv turning red in the face and found it slightly amusing. “ **…Maybe…”**

Bruce laughed, the way his genuine laugh made his shoulders go up slightly and his dimples show was so… beautiful.

“Well good, Harv can do the flirting for both of us. I’m terrible at it.” Harvey added with a grin.

“You are, but so am I.” Bruce added affectionately.

“ **So you’re not… too weirded out by me?”** Harv asked slowly.

Harvey felt a twinge of guilt leftover from their previous argument.

Bruce shook his head. “I’m surprised certainly, but I went in wanting to know Harvey again, and now I get to know you too.”

Bruce moved a little bit closer and looked at them with a teasing grin. “Besides, now I can tell Alfred I have _two_ best friends that are turning into more… he’ll be so proud of me.”

Harvey raised his eyebrows. “Two _is_ better than one.”

Bruce ran an affectionate hand along Harv(ey)’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me. I _do_ want to continue to make it up to both of you. It’s nice to know that you like me too Harv.”

Harv beamed at him. “ **Always … even if I was pissed at ya for a bit.. you’re still my pretty boy.”** Harv paused nervously. **“I hope that’s not too weird, you know Harvey, not me I guess… I mean I know you as well as Harvey does but…** ”

Bruce leaned forward and kissed them as a soft way to hush them before starting to look a bit more bashful and unsure of himself.

“I’m…. not _against_ the term…”

Harv immediately looked mischievous. “ **You _like_ it don’t you?”** He proclaimed.

Bruce looked away in embarrassment.

That was all Harv needed to swell with pride.

“So you’re really okay with still maybe… dating again? I know it’s suddenly two people you’re getting to know and dating.”

Bruce recovered from his embarrassment and looked back at them. “It will be different certainly. But I would never give up on _us_ or not even try because of this.”

Harvey and Harv’s heart melted, they just wanted to hold this man and never let go. “I don’t deserve you Bruce.”

Bruce wrapped his arms around their shoulders and sighed. “No… I don’t deserve you.”

Before Harv or Harvey could argue with him and tell Bruce he was worth everything to them, their mouth was covered up with another kiss… and before long they melted and forgot what they were going to say entirely.

* * *

* * *

When Harvey was finally sent home he found the earpiece Oliver had given him and the rest of the League.

Harv decided he didn’t want to start out super serious. “ **New phone, who this?”** He grumbled jokingly as soon as they had the earpiece in.

Superman answered immediately. “You’re okay! I thought about visiting you in the hospital but I thought that might be bad.”

Seemed Superman was learning.

Harv immediately answered back **“Hey, thanks for helping out in Gotham, I saw that you made appearances on the news.”**

“Of course! Though… that city needs more help than I thought I did… and I thought it needed a lot.” Superman replied.

 **“Tell me about it.”** Harv agreed.

Oliver’s voice then chimed in. “I visited while you were out cold then felt stupid because I didn’t have anything to leave with you… ran into Bruce though.”

Harvey paused. “Really? He didn’t mention running into you.”

Oliver laughed. “Maybe because I said ‘Hey where the hell have you been chucklefuck?’ instead of ‘oh hi’ and that seemed to put him in a bad mood.”

Harvey rolled his eyes. Sounded like an Oliver move. He shook his head and changed the subject.

“I wanted to try and patrol tonight, at least make an appearance… but I don’t know if I get kicked where the wound is It’ll probably be bad news for me.”

“I can tag along with you tonight. My sidekick has been dying to handle a patrol by himself… I’m nervous about it but I think he has the skills, and helping someone else out would probably help my nerves.” Oliver offered.

“ _He has a sidekick? Why don’t we have a sidekick?”_

**_“We do. I’M Duality and you’re my sidekick, we’re a two for the price of one deal. Duh.”_ **

_“…fair enough.”_ Harvey conceded.

“You’re a life saver.” He followed up.

“Good for that whole hero job huh?” Oliver teased. “Besides, I’ve been working on some gear for you while you were down for the count. Tried to keep it in the aesthetic I got from you.”

 **“Thank god you understand aesthetic because Harvey _doesn’t_ ” **Harv teased.

“You know it. Take it from the guy that dresses up like robin hood and has to make an arrow for everything, that’s half the fun.” Oliver added with a laugh.

Something about a patrol with an old friend that understood the vigilante-hero business had Harv excited, not to mention, he was over the moon that now he had people in his life that knew him. Oliver knew him, and more importantly… Pretty Boy Bruce knew him, finally.

NOW they could say things were looking up, but knock on wood because last time they said that they were well… shot at and nearly died… so they didn’t want to press their luck.

**Author's Note:**

> I was so excited for this AU I pulled an almost all nighter working on the first few chapters ;) Hope ya'll like my take on it!


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